


To be Ruler (of Your Heart)

by DontTrustLoserCandy



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alpha Katsuki Yuuri, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Arranged Marriage, Blow Jobs, Body Worship, Cock Warming, Consensual Somnophilia, Crying During Sex, Dirty Talk, Fluff, Foot Fetish, Gentle Sex, Heat Sex, Knotting, Light Angst, M/M, Magic AU, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Victor Nikiforov, Praise Kink, Pregnancy Kink, Rough Sex, Somnophilia, Yuri!!! on Ice Shit Bang 2017, a very short appearance of, face fucking, ish, pre-heat sex, slow burn i guess, technically marriage of convenience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-19 23:34:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11908545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontTrustLoserCandy/pseuds/DontTrustLoserCandy
Summary: Emperor Yuri Katsuki lives and breathes for his country. When his advisors forcefully exile him to Hasetsu for a "well-deserved break", Yuuri resigns himself to reconnecting with his eccentric parents and spending a few weeks of itchy boredom until his "holidays" are over.His plans though get quickly derailed when a certain Tsar appears in his family's onsen, with a proposition of his own.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first time joining a bang (and actually finishing) so I'm very happy to finally finish something hahah  
> Many thanks to the SB discord chat, their word sprinting sessions, and my lovely artist who helped me worldbuild this clusterfuck once I realized it wasn't going to be anywhere close to 5k. I still cry.  
> I'll be adding my artist's wonderful art as soon as they finish it, but until then hope you enjoy the fic on its own!  
> Edit: [ here's the beautiful art!!!!! go see it!! ](http://omtivi.tumblr.com/post/164974241505/finally-my-other-piece-for-yoi-shit-bang-this-is)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Yuuri's childhood dreams become true in the most bizarre of ways.

 

After a week's worth of increasingly exasperated letters assuring him that  _yes, everything is well in the country,_  and  _no, we haven't burned the palace down yet. Please rest assured,_  Yuuri doesn't expect much in the way of news. And he  _especially_ doesn't expect any international news.

Instead, what he gets is Victor Nikiforovich Nikiforov The Great, Snow Country's pride and joy, buck-naked and standing in the middle of Yuuri's family onsen, smiling as he offers him an inviting hand with a grand gesture.

"Yuuri! Will you take my hand in marriage?"

 

 

Long ago, before Yuuri even _considered_ thoughts of succeeding the throne as anything else that off-putting nightmares that creeped out during sweat slick summer nights, the second prince of Rain heard the news about Snow's very own Tsesarevich. He'd been fascinated, hearing the storyteller weave a tale about the omega prince's dashing win at the national Sword and Sorcery competitions, had gasped along at the description of every surprising counterattack and cheered at every sound victory.

Yuuri had been so taken by the tale that he'd begged to attend the next international competition, as a spectator since he was still too young to compete, and the actual live show had been so _breathtaking_ that Yuuri had decided then and there that he wanted to stand in the same arena as Victor someday.

And if sometimes he'd daydreamed about being arranged to marry Victor as a birthday surprise from his parents, strengthening the bonds of both countries and letting them fall in love sparring together at the break of dawn, well. That had been young Yuuri's business.

_This_ , however, was never how he'd expected things to go.

As Yuuri's mother chats animatedly with Snow's ruler, who's currently wearing onsen robes and calmly petting his dog while looking at their little hideaway from royal life with something resembling a _charmed_ expression, Yuuri tries to make sense of the situation.

And as another much _less_ innocent teenage fantasy comes up to mind like a cobwebbed trinket Yuuri had long forgotten about, he tries to frantically erase any trace of such of thoughts, feeling his heart picking up just at the mental image.

A worker leaves a full plate of steaming Katsudon in front of the Tsar and the man 'wow's out loud before taking a bite.

("I want to know everything about my potential betrothed, Yuuri. What is your favorite food?")

His reaction is... _Very_  positive.

Yuuri watches his mother preen at the praise gushing out of Victor's mouth between bites, and a pleased smile comes to his face. Katsudon is dear to him, a beloved dish since childhood, and the knowledge that Victor _likes it_ is... Exhilarating.

Like a dream come true, except the reality of it is much, much more animated in his praise, and appeared at their onsen under much more bizarre circumstances than Yuuri's mind could've ever fabricated.

His mother leaves halfway the impromptu dinner, the hustle and bustle of the onsen calling her back to work, and Yuuri waits until Victor is done before bringing up said circumstances.

Victor, apparently, is on the same track of mind.

"If I'd known you had such heavenly food in your country I would've asked for your hand much sooner," Victor sighs, sounding well-sated and halfway to bliss, and Yuuri feels his face heat even as he tries to cough the knot in his throat away.

"Uh, about that..." He starts, frowning down at his folded legs even as he tries to find a way to word his question without accidentally offending the Tsar bad enough to make him declare war on Rain. "Why marry? And why marry  _me_ of all options? Surely there are better candidates out there. Closer to your country, even."

"Well, Snow _is_ close to Rain Country if you count our long stretches of tundras and ice as part of it. We do, anyways. As for the _why,_ " Victor says, leaning close, a warm hand wrapping around Yuuri's, "there are many reasons for which to agree to this union. Political, economical, personal... A contract will be drafted if you accept, and your stipulations will be taken into account, of course. I want this to be an equally beneficial arrangement for us and our countries both, Yuuri."

A part of Yuuri, the part that is the emperor of a nation and an overworked young man that despairs over having to start a battle over every little thing and never seems to get anything done, relaxes at that with a deep, overwhelming feeling of relief. The rest of Yuuri, though, is too busy flushing like a young teenager while vaguely feeling like this is too good to be true and he's being tricked by foxes.

 "I didn't know you were interested in marriage." Yuuri blurts out in his daze and promptly wishes to stuff the words back inside.

Victor smiles, a familiar expression in his face making Yuuri relax even as something sinks in his stomach.

Of _course_  Victor isn't really interested. It's not about your own wants when you're the ruler of a country. Both Yuuri and Victor understand that.

"Well, just because it's a matter of the country doesn't mean it can't be a matter of pleasure as well, no?" Victor says, and Yuuri finds himself nodding along before the words sink in.  _What?_ "Think about it, Yuuri. Will you?"

"Yes," Yuuri says without a second thought. Victor's smile brightens, much like the sun coming out of hiding and Yuuri finds himself thinking  _oh_.

_Oh Wow._

"Now! What kind of places can you go to in this town? This is something like a summer state...?"

"Ah, kind of," Yuuri says, and launches into an explanation about their little Imperial onsen, grateful to distract himself with things he  _does_ understand. He explains how his parents moved permanently to Hasetsu after leaving the country in the hands of Yuuri, Mari, and Minako, and how they opened the inn to the public and generally enjoyed the little utopia of being simple onsen owners. It was eccentric, even among the more eccentric nobles in their country, but Yuuri's parents had never had an ounce of shame on admitting their appreciation for the simple things in life. It had made them popular among the common folk, both their frugality and establishment of kinder taxes on the poor being big points in their favor and even now had left them in a favored position in the hearts of the city's population.

The onsen had also doubled as a private spot of relaxation for the royal family long before his parents opened it to the public, which was the reason why Yuuri was there in the first place.

Really, it was embarrassing.

Victor keeps asking questions even as the staff serves them sake and quietly takes the Tsar's drowsy dog back to the room he's staying in, infinitely curious about everything. Left alone in their private room, Yuuri feels himself relaxing as time goes on. He still doesn't touch his own glass for much more than to take a couple of sips here and there, but finds himself refilling Victor's cup so often the single bottle of sake soon becomes two and three.

Yuuri is slightly surprised by how much Victor takes, but then he guesses he has no foot to judge the Tsar's drinking habits. This _is_ supposed to be a safe place for royalty to relax after all, and while until now that's always meant _Yuuri's_ family, Victor did propose the union of their family lines not long ago. Explicitly came here for it, even.

The sake keeps flowing as Victor becomes more and more cheerful and inebriated, and by the time they finally retire for the night Yuuri has to help him get presentable again (Victor being the kind of drunk who lost clothes as they downed alcohol had been a surprise, leaving Yuuri more than a bit flustered). He then accompanies him to his new room, silently thankful that it's close to his own and almost stumbling at the man's weight and cheerful cuddling more than once.

Tsar Victor is an affectionate drunk. Duly noted.

An hour later, lying in bed as his heart still pounds against his ribs, Yuuri finally understands what he's feeling.

_Happiness._

 

 

Victor is... surprisingly tactile even while sober. Yuuri finds himself quickly getting used to Victor's constant casual touching, although the man's flirty nature is harder to come to terms with. Victor himself adapts quickly to the onsen life, seemingly unconcerned about the possible state of his country as he relaxes in the hot springs on a daily basis, and Yuuri finds himself wondering about what measures the man might've put in place during his absence.

Yuuri, as the Emperor, knows enough about the courts of foreign kingdoms to not make a complete fool of himself during his state visits and less formal visits, but as far as he's aware Victor doesn't have a designated right hand in his court. There's the Duke Feltsman, his mentor and adviser, and the Grand Duke Yuri Plisetski, his rumored heir, but Yuuri can't imagine the wisdom of leaving a fifteen years old in charge of the country while their ruler goes to personally forge a political marriage with another country's ruler.

That said, Victor doesn't seem to feel the urge to bring the proposal up again, so Yuuri takes the silence as his cue to write to Minako. He explains the situation as best as he can and tells her about his intentions, asking what the best terms possible to decide on would be. He's sure his councillor will drop everything to oversee the creation of the contract if he gives her the smallest hint of wanting to do everything himself, so Yuuri makes sure to mention that the contract will be officially signed at the royal palace, and to please prepare a rough draft or two until then.

Victor had also mentioned coming ahead of his entourage in his excitement (which had explained the freak snowstorm in May), so Yuuri makes sure to also warn her in his letter of their imminent presence. The last thing Yuuri needs is for an international scare to arise from a misunderstanding. 

Once the letter is written and sent, though, Yuuri's mind goes back to the bizarre situation he's somehow landed himself in. _Tsar Victor Nikiforov_ wants to marry him, wants their countries to grow closer. The man had mentioned the possibility of leaving both countries separate, but he'd also been _positive_  of the possibility of slowly merging their countries, cultures, and languages as much as any country could merge them. 

(Bring them a bit closer to how they'd been during the times of the Elemental Empire, Yuuri can't stop himself from thinking. 

Although, truth be said, Victor hadn't seemed particularly power-hungry.)

It's... A heady thought, somewhat overwhelming, although Yuuri is thankful the Tsar is being so considerate. It makes him feel more in control, having a choice with such flexible limits, and it helps him come to his decision and even feel confident in it.

And so, after an afternoon of walking from the old castle ruins to the beach, watching the sun slowly set on the horizon while Makkachin gleefully chases after gulls, Yuuri turns to look at Victor. Their eyes meet, Victor's blue shining under the rays of the setting sun, and Yuuri takes a deep breath and opens his mouth before his brain can come up with a thousand excuses to close it again.

"I accept," Yuuri says, lifting a hand in the way of the westerns, knowing full well how much there's to gain from this alliance. "Your marriage proposal, I accept it. I will become your wedded husband."

Victor's eyes seem to brighten under the changing light, glinting like stars as his expression softens into a smile, and his hand clasps around Yuuri's firmly. There's nothing domineering in the gesture, like Yuuri has experienced before, but his hand is warm and rough with callouses from sword fighting, his handshake neutral. 

A handshake of equals.

"I look forward to being in your care," Victor says, still smiling, and Yuuri smiles back.

"Please take care of me."

 

 

Victor, to Yuuri's immense confusion and mortification, starts to ask him to sleep together after Yuuri agrees to the marriage.

"We need to strengthen our ties as fiancés, Yuuri! Sleepovers are perfect for this," is Victor's explanation. Yuuri wonders where exactly he got that questionable information from.

Overwhelmed, he turns Victor down.

Somehow, Victor doesn't take offense nor calls him out, no snide comments about Yuuri being a weak-willed alpha coming from his mouth. It's... Surprising, how accepting the man is, taking Yuuri's panicked rejection with an understanding and non-plussed smile. It's  _nice,_ Yuuri realizes once he has time to think and identify his feelings.

Victor pushes gently, always eager to get to know Yuuri better, but he doesn't cross the lines Yuuri has drawn during their time together. He respects them, carefully prodding at them at times, and patiently lets Yuuri pull away as many times as needed. Yuuri isn't used to that, either.

He hadn't expected the Tsar of Snow Country to be so understanding after hearing so many stories about the man's sometimes eccentric whims and flights of fancy. But the omega man has already shown to be nothing but serious about his intentions during his stay at the onsen, demeanor easily excitable and charismatic, and Yuuri has come to realize Victor's bluntness only supports this. Victor isn't the kind of man to give empty reassurances.

It's... surprisingly calming, and it makes it easier for Yuuri to agree to their little outings around town, to open himself up for the sake of sharing his country's culture. He tells Victor about the history behind old buildings, the tradition behind their religion and myths and magic, and somehow feels comfortable in the position of being Victor's guide.

Victor listens, eyes rapt and voice curious—like those of a tourist instead of a Tsar, of Yuuri's  _betrothed_ , and the reality is still hard to accept—and his genuine eagerness to know more is oddly reassuring as well, makes him want to share more with the man. Walking down the streets of Hasetsu with Victor is... nice, and feels right in a way human interaction often doesn't for Yuuri.

It's a deeper kind of delight when Yuuri mentions the town's oldest dojo and its outdoors training facilities and Victor's eyes brighten in eager curiosity. Yuuri's rusty himself and even fit would barely stand a chance in front of Victor's well-polished movements, but watching the man stretch his muscles with sword and magic is still as bewitching as it once was. It makes him remember the days when Victor still competed, before ascending to the throne, when Yuuri still chased after his shadow with the lofty dream of someday sharing the arena with the omega.

Victor insists in adding sword practice to their little makeshift routine while they're in Hasetsu, and Yuuri quickly realizes he can't deny him that. Not when Victor glows the way he does at the idea.

 

 

Once Victor starts using his magic, he doesn't really seem keen to stop.

Yuuri explains him the cultural nuances of using magic in public, about what is socially acceptable and what's taboo to do, and Victor nods and then asks him if there's a private place where he can practice magic other than the dojo. Yuuri, confused, brings him to the abandoned tournament arena Hasetsu possesses, a leftover from times past when the town was more bustling city favored by the emperor's family than small town used as a private getaway.

Victor takes a look at the arena and, with a satisfied smile, proceeds to freeze the entirety of the fighting grounds with a gesture.

If the display of power hadn't been enough to take Yuuri's breath away, then Victor _dancing_ on the ice does the job.

Yuuri knows about the ice skating exhibitions nobles in Snow like to stage, royal family included. He knows it stands a beloved sport in the country almost as popular as the sword and sorcery tournaments, and he's even had the honor of watching one twice in his life during political visits to the palace.

(Yuuri remembers the second one the best, a private, lonely thing he'd stumbled upon after escaping from the overwhelming pressure of the banquet that had been in full swing. The figure has been breathtaking, dancing freely under the light of the moon, and Yuuri's heart had stuttered and ached in his chest as he watched. He'd wondered then, still wonders, if he hadn't stumbled upon an ice sprite. Surely, with hair spun of moonlight and unnatural grace as he flew across the ice, this creature couldn't be human.)

He's never seen Victor skating before and the grace, the  _magic_ in his step sequences and gravity defying jumps leaves him breathless. Yuuri doesn't even notice moving into the ice, on the blades Victor just conjured for him, and doesn't break out of the spell until he almost trips on his feet and falls down. Thankfully, after that his body slowly remembers how it felt to move on the ice, and he's saved from embarrassing himself too much.

They dance and they laugh, chasing each other through the repurposed arena, and Yuuri feels a small, wounded part of himself he's ignored for years be soothed by the experience. He feels light on the ice blades, lighter than he's felt in years.

"You're good," Victor says, smiling as Yuuri tries a double axel with a whoop, and he lands slightly awkwardly, laughter self-conscious.

"Not really. The exhibitions in Snow are much better than anything I could ever do."

"Hmm. The exhibitions are made by professionals who've been skating all their life and whose livelihood depends on being awe-inspiring on the ice," Victor points out, skating closer until he's in front of Yuuri, gently lifting his chin with a finger. "I wouldn't expect someone from Rain Country to know how to skate, and skate well. The weather around here doesn't seem to get very cold."

"We  _do_ get snow in some parts of the country," Yuuri says drily, amused despite himself. Then embarrassment takes hold. "And, uh, I liked the sport after watching an exhibition at the Winter Palace when I was younger." His cheeks warm at the confession, and Victor's hand feels scalding on his chin. "It looked... so graceful and beautiful, and I... Wanted to learn to move like that. So I asked for a teacher to teach me how to skate, and an ice mage froze one of the rooms in the palace. The room is still there if you ever want to... It was made for that."

"I'd love to," Victor says, smiling, and Yuuri looks at the curve of his lips, soft and genuine like the shine in his eyes. "Did you stop? You looked a bit rusty at first, although your body caught up pretty quickly once on the ice."

"Ah, yes... I-- yes."

"Why?"

Yuuri shrugs and looks away. He's a bit ashamed to admit it, especially after seeing that _Victor_ didn't get out of shape or neglect the things he loved despite his surely packed schedule. Yuuri doesn't even have a dramatic reason like injury or tragic deaths. He just... stopped.

"I... guess I was too busy after my sister absconded and I became the crown prince. I had a lot of catching up to do."

It isn't even a good excuse, but Victor still hums, thoughtful. Then his hand is around Yuuri's, smoothly sliding them into a dance, and Yuuri forgets about regrets and missed opportunities as he turns and twists and laughs with Victor, both men drawing the rough sketch of a routine with their skates.

It's fun, _freeing_ in a way Yuuri has seldom felt, and for a moment he feels like he could forget everything else and live the rest of his life like this. Dancing, laughing.

With Victor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Victor bond

Victor seems to be in love with the small food stalls peppered through Hasetsu, and always ready to drag Yuuri with him to one or go by himself if he isn't in the mood. It's nice to see Victor enjoy their little bubble of safety and semi-anonymity so much, although his family makes sure to always send someone to watch his back just in case. Victor _is_ foreign nobility after all, and the ruler of a country no less. And that's not even mentioning the (not yet sealed) political marriage in their future.

Yuuri isn't exactly worried. Hasetsu is one of the safest havens his family has trimmed and worked on during their long line, and Victor is more than capable to take care of himself. But he's cautious, same as his parents are.

Still, as far as things go, the sense of calm permanently permeating Hasetsu is enough to soothe even him. Probably why Minako and his sister had basically exiled him to Hasetsu for a "vacation".

Yuuri does have to admit, the freedom to nap whenever he's tired and his family doesn't need help with the onsen—their employers and patrons having long gotten used to the Katsuki family's brand of eccentricity—is strangely liberating, especially given Yuuri's irregular sleep schedule. Occasionally cuddling with Makkachin is only an added benefit, even if the dog still prefers to stay in the livelier parts of the inn and beg for pets sometimes.

All that said, it doesn't prepare him for over seventy kilograms of needy Tsar shaking him awake by flopping on top of him like a certain lazy dog.

" _Yuuri_." Victor draws out his name in a whine, voice uncomfortably close to Yuuri's ear, and Yuuri grunts. "You should go outside, it's really warm and nice! Let's go to the beach."

"Sleeping," Yuuri grumbles, trying to curl into a ball as best as possible while being smothered by Victor's body. He catches a whiff of a familiar scent and opens an eye to look at Victor's face, too close for comfort. "Are you drunk?"

"Noooo, just a little tipsy!" Victor says cheerfully, wiggling like an overexcited puppy, and Yuuri groans and tries to go back to sleep. It's too early for this. "It's six in the afternoon, _Yuuri_."

Yuuri hums, tasting the dryness of his mouth, and asks, "I said that out loud?"

"Yes, now let's go to the beach. Yuuri!"

"No," Yuuri whines, fighting off Victor's uncoordinated and frankly pathetic attempts to take away his blanket. "You're too drunk for the beach, Victor."

"Am not."

"I'm not going anywhere except back to sleep," Yuuri says, voice hard, and closes his eyes along with the conversation.

Silence settles back in the room, but Victor still doesn't move away. Yuuri is almost ready to ignore the weight squishing him and go back to sleep. 

"Can I sleep with you, Yuuri?" Victor finally asks, breaking the silence, and Yuuri opens his eyes again at the soft, uncharacteristically hesitant tone. "Can I stay?"

Yuuri can hear Victor breathing, like this. His and Victor's breathing, loud in the otherwise silent room, and the distant bustling of the onsen during work hours.

He stays silent as he wriggles his arm out from under Victor's body, and lifts one corner of the blanket.

"It's cold outside." The excuse is weak, but sleep is still trying to drag him under, and he closes his eyes. "Come in."

Victor breathes out a soft, relieved puff that blows air against Yuuri's cheeks and hair, and then the man is gingerly climbing over him and into the covers. Yuuri watches Victor's limbs flail around as he tries to fit himself into the bed, motor skills compromised by his drunken state, and feels something warm and fond in his chest.

Yuuri's too tired to apologize for his tiny, queen sized bed. He's seen Victor's, cozy and broad and probably brought all the way from Snow country by his entourage, and he knows his own doesn't even begin to compare. It's old and small, a leftover from vacationing often to Hasetsu during his childhood and teen years, one he's always found comfort in. Western styled beds aren't that popular around Rain Country, so Yuuri had never considered getting a new bed on a whim, knowing already that any other day he'd feel too self-conscious to even have someone else to share it with.

Now, though, he's too tired to really care, much less worry as Victor covers himself up and stares at him so intensely Yuuri can feel it behind his closed eyes. Sleep tries to lull him back into its arms, and Yuuri is finding fewer and fewer reasons to not do just that.

(And it doesn't matter anyway, does it? Victor is his fiancé now. They'll be sharing beds soon enough after they get married. The thought is sound to his sleep-deprived brain and preventively reassures him.)

Yuuri opens his eyes, staring back at Victor's, and waits for the man to voice the question painted on his face.

"Yuuri, can I get closer?"

Yuuri blinks, slow and tired, and lifts his arm in silent consent. Victor squirms into his arms, snuggling against him without shame, and Yuuri distantly wonders how drunk the man must actually be at the moment.

Even when he's being needy and silently demanding attention, Victor never is... like _this_ , or at least to this extent. So open about his needs and wants, without a screen or a wall of mirrors to hide behind. It's... interesting, seeing him so bare, even if Yuuri's half-asleep mind can't fully grasp the implications.

Victor sighs softly, settling in his arms, and Yuuri feels himself curling around him without much thought. He buries his nose in soft, platinum hair, and feels his muscles relaxing even as he drifts off buried in the sweet, calming scent of his husband-to-be.

 

 

Yuuri's rut comes two weeks later, early and without barely any warning at all, and he leaves as fast as humanly possible with excuses of very pressing matters back at the palace. Victor lets him go without much questioning, understanding the demands of the crown even as he frowns in concern, and Yuuri tries not to feel guilty. He refuses to ask for some of Victor's clothing despite the itch under his skin, paranoia curling around him with the (rationally slim, irrationally immense) possibility of Victor seeing through his deception if he speaks up. Instead, he leaves with a full suitcase that feels empty, and the overwhelming feeling that he's forgetting something of vital importance.

His rut is absolutely miserable.

He spends most of it wishing he'd just stolen some of the omega's shirts, fantasizing about their scent and softness before his emotions take hold of him again and choke him up. The usually reassuring scents of his family's clothing aren't enough to calm him down or fully comfort him, and it leaves him feeling raw and awful. The time he doesn't spend crying onto the bed sheets, swept off by mood swings and deep bouts of self-hate, he spends pitifully rutting against the sheets or into his heat toys. It's extremely unfulfilling and turns him into a ball of anger and misery and snot more than once.

As far as solo ruts go, Yuuri solidly marks it down as one of his top five worst ones and tries not to think about anything of what just happened once the ordeal is over.

(Victor doesn't ask details when Yuuri comes back looking and feeling like he's been thoroughly chewed and then spit out by a troll, and Yuuri is thankful for it. He's even more thankful for the cuddling that ensues once he sleeps the last of his exhaustion away.)

(It helps.)

 

 

They're in the repurposed arena, skating circles around each other when Victor asks him the question Yuuri's been dreading since the man started using his magic.

"So, Yuuri, what's your magic like?" The man tilts his head in curiosity, and then his eyes brighten. "Can you show me?"

Yuuri stammers, feeling his cheeks heat up at the genuine and innocent curiosity in Victor's expression, and stares at the ice under his feet.

With someone else, some _other_ foreign ruler or noble, Yuuri's crown prince training would've stopped him from being so blatant in his embarrassment. The knowledge that this was a fellow royal would've kept him tense and straight-faced even as his heart would've kicked up in a panic, and his answers would've been stilted and short.

With Victor, though, putting down his shields feels almost natural now, _safe,_ and Yuuri wraps himself in that knowledge as he takes a breath.

(He comforts himself with the thought that Victor is going to become his husband, so the show of trust is not unwise. Both his parents and Yuuko have always stressed the importance of being open with one's spouse, after all.)

"Ah, well, it's... something I probably shouldn't use indoors, really." Yuuri scratches at the ice with a toothpick, very much not looking up when Victor hums in displeasure. 

(Part of his brain agrees with Victor's reaction. The other whispers that nobody said trust was  _easy._ )

"But you said yourself that it's not polite to show your powers in public in this country, Yuuri," he points out. Yuuri sighs.

"It isn't."

" _Yuuri_ , I want to see your powers, you always keep them so close to your chest, even in battle," Victor pouts, skating closer until he's standing in front of Yuuri, and Yuuri tenses and looks up in realization.

"Wait- You knew I competed?" Yuuri asks, startled, and Victor tilts his head even as a finger comes up to rest on his lips.

"Of course I did. You were good, if inconsistent. I felt sad to never have the chance to combat against you before I became Tsar, and then I didn't get to see you flourish into your full potential either..." Victor sighs, disappointment and an echo of bitterness under the levity of his voice, and Yuuri blinks at it before comprehension sinks in.

They both were taken out of the competitive scene before their time, for reasons outside of their power. It's not something that would sit well with anyone.

(Although, Yuuri grimly reminds himself, it's not like  _he_ put much of a fight when his time to retire came. After Victor's forced retirement combat had lost some of its appeals, and then with Vicchan... When his father had grown sick and decided to step down, well. Yuuri had accepted it with much less of a fight than anyone had expected of him.)

Then the part where Victor wanted to  _compete against him_ fully sinks in, and Yuuri feels his heart picking up.

"I-- we could fight sometime if you want to," Yuuri says, licking his lips. "Not training, but actual combat. With everything it entails."

Victor's face brightens, eyes going wide and so, so blue, and nods enthusiastically. He holds up a closed fist to his face, looking like Yuuri just promised him the moon, and Yuuri silently wonders why giving the man carte blanche to kick Yuuri's mediocre ass would cause that reaction.

"I'd love that, yes!"

Yuuri smiles, giddiness at the thought of finally fighting Victor beating at his stomach, and they spend the next ten minutes skating on the ice in high spirits, Victor dragging him into some ridiculous spins and jumps that make him laugh even as he tries to follow.

Once things have calmed down, both of them drinking from their pouches and resting on a bench as they enjoy the silence of the empty building, Victor turns back to him with a thoughtful, almost unimpressed expression.

"You still haven't told me what your magic is, though," Victor points out, staring judgmentally at Yuuri, and he feels his forehead break out in a nervous sweat.

"It's-- it's nothing impressive, really, it's just," Yuuri shrugs, uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny, and spits the words out with a bitter aftertaste, " _average_."

"I somehow doubt that," Victor hums like he's stating out a fact or calling Yuuri out on a blatant lie. Yuuri doesn't understand him, sometimes. "You're anything but average, Yuuri."

"I am, though." Yuuri frowns, feeling his hackles rise. How can Victor be so sure if he hasn't ever seen him use his magic? If Yuuri ever did something to make Victor think he was anything more than average, it was probably a fluke.

"Well, if you're so sure then _show me_ ," Victor throws back, crossing his arms and looking at him unimpressed, and Yuuri's fists clench.

Yuuri is tired. He's tired, first physically and now emotionally and mentally from this conversation, from dancing around his weaknesses and regrets and mediocrity, feeling on edge at Victor's uncharacteristic pushiness.

He snaps.

He throws a hand out, instinct and emotion guiding his movements, and lets  _go_ at the arena.

The magic comes easily to him, tickling his fingertips and escaping from his body like a wet breeze, and he forgets for a moment that Victor's spell still rests all over their magic-made rink, strong and self-contained. He forgets, and his eyes widen as instead of a downpour the ceiling starts to  _snow_.

Victor, too, looks wide-eyed.

" _Oh_."

"I-- normally I-- water--," Yuuri tries to explain, feeling his face growing hot because  _he just messed up with Victor's spell like that,_ without asking for permission or-- or something, and that's just. That's just something that isn't done, not between people who aren't in an intimate relationship or willing to cheat during a battle and, and  _it's just not done._ Yuuri whines in distress and hides his face in his hands. "I'm  _so sorry--_ "

"No, don't," Victor says, and Yuuri flinches. This is the moment the man says he wants to break their betrothal, realizes this was all a mistake and leaves, right? And if they'll be lucky if Snow won't declare war and— "It's beautiful."

His thoughts screech to a halt.

_What?_

"What?"

"The snow," Victor says like it explains everything, and a snowflake leaves the rink to settle on his hair, followed by one settling on his cheek. Yuuri fine control was never remarkable. "It's beautiful. I could never do something like this."

Victor says it with such... _Emotion,_ raw and vulnerable as he looks down and opens his palm, watching a snowflake fall on it and melt. Yuuri breathes, repressing the impulse to wipe away the snowflake that falls on the man's eyebrow with a finger, and tries to ignore the way his heart clenches and his insides twist at the expression in Victor's face.

_You shouldn't be seeing this,_ a part of his brain hisses, but... Yuuri should, shouldn't he? Victor invited him in, to this moment, slowly opened up to him again and again.

_Oh,_ Yuuri realizes, feeling dazed for a moment,  _he meets me in the middle._

It's a thought that makes his throat go dry, and Yuuri swallows.

"I can't, either," he says, looking back at the snowy rink and the snow that doesn't look about to stop anytime soon. "I can only summon water, never snow. Not alone."

Victor breathes in, audible in the silence of the rink and their proximity, and Yuuri almost jumps when a hand comes to rest over his own. It's slightly wet, and cold, yet makes Yuuri's body feel pleasantly warm all the same.

He smiles and looks back at the rink.

They watch the snow fall for a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where something is found out, a wild Minami appears and the wedding comes.

Victor, Yuuri knows, doesn't really seem to play by the same rules of property the rest of nobles and royalty usually play. He's polite, yes, but he's also a surprise after the other, a genius of magic and the sword, and somehow able to talk his way into insulting the most high-strung of dukes without them even realizing it. Or, if he's feeling less charitable that day, insulting them to the point of leaving them speechless.These were all things he'd heard about the man back when he was still a teen, but the present reality doesn't seem to be so different.

These were all things he'd heard about the man back when he was still a teen, but the present reality doesn't seem to be so different.

(Yuuri remembers hearing about a noble in his father's court trying to sweet-talk the then new Tsar once, about something Yuuri never was told the specifics of, only to be so thoroughly rejected and dragged the man's face had looked puce in humiliation for an entire month afterward.)

Knowing this, still, doesn't prepare him for Victor interrogating him on the specifics of his magic and its limitations.

"So, Yuuri, how good are you at localization spells?" The bomb is dropped in the middle of Makkachin's walk, casual, and Yuuri almost throws the dog's stick up into the branches of a tree.

"What?"

"Localization spells. Your magical instructor taught you how to do them, right?" Victor frowns, as if the idea of a magical instruction not teaching high-level spells to a teen is preposterous.

Yuuri blinks.

"I- yes, she did, but- why are you asking?"

"Just curious! I want to know everything about my future husband, remember?" Victor says, cheerful, and Yuuri nods even as the 'husband' part of the sentence makes his face feel warm.

"I'm... Not bad at them? Nothing special, but knowing where a great body of water lies is a useful skill," Yuuri shrugs, thinking back to learning how to use the information the spell gave him to prepare for droughts and inundations before they hit.

Even if the royal mages spread across the country existed to take care of these things, Minako had stressed on the usefulness of developing the skill himself.

"I see," Victor nods, probably sharing the same line of thought as Yuuri. Knowing the ice in a country like Snow sounded useful, if not vital. "What about transportation spells, then?"

"T-transportation?" Yuuri blinks, baffled. "I... can send small amounts of goods to a place if I've pinned down the localization first, but it's never much and not _too_ far away..."

Last he'd checked, his limit had been around forty kilometers. He remembers practicing the spell for hours, until his magic was almost dangerous levels of low and he'd jumped so many times he'd lost count at the thirty-fifth try.

That had been years ago.

"And people? Can you send people? Or yourself?" Victor asks, casually, like he's talking about weather tricks instead of _magically transporting living beings._

Yuuri opens his mouth, closes it, and ignores the way Makkachin insistently presses the stick against his leg. He stares at Victor in shock.

Finally, he manages to remember how to speak.

"I can send myself in short distances," Yuuri finds himself saying, honest in the face of Victor's genuine curiosity. "Not too far away, and not with anyone else." Then, he frowns. "It's too dangerous to travel too far away on your own, but traveling with others is harder to do."

He remembers clearly Minako's lecture over shared transportation spells and synchronizing the magical input between both parties. He remembers even more clearly her aggressively stressing the dangers of trying to do long jumps on your own, and that's mainly because he'd tried to do one of these a month after.

Suffice to say, his ego hadn't been the only thing bruised.

Victor gives him a smile like he knows exactly where Yuuri is coming from. Like he understands the pain of long and droning lectures memorized through the sheer power of having them repeatedly aimed at you.

It's oddly comforting.

Then another thought comes to mind, and he stills.

"Wait. Do you mean you- Did you-" Yuuri looks at Victor, the always surprising Tsar, and feels himself somehow being able to see it. _Of course_ , he would. "Did you get here ahead of your entourage by means of a _transportation spell_?"

Victor smiles, sheepish, and Yuuri blinks and looks into the distance. He needs a moment. He needs several moments, space to freak out and be in awe in equal measures, and possibly externalize some amount of shock too.

He takes Makkachin's stick and throws it as far away as he can. The dog goes after in delight.

"You never stop being a surprise after another, huh?" Yuuri muses under his breath, missing the way Victor's cheeks darken as he overhears him.

"I'm sure you could do it too, Yuuri, with the right training and practice," Victor says, earnest, eyes staring intensely into his as he talks like he's just stating a fact Yuuri is stubbornly refusing to believe.

He blushes.

"How far can you travel, then?" Yuuri asks, looking away. He doesn't know where to even begin with Victor's claim, so he doesn't.

Victor hums.

"Around fifty kilometers on my own, and seventy-five with assistance." That's... an impressive number. Yuuri boggles at Victor, startling as the man claps his hands. "Never mind that! Yuuri, when was the last time you tried a warming spell?"

"A... warming spell?" Yuuri asks, wondering if he heard wrong, and opens his mouth to remind Victor of the whole 'water element' thing. Then he closes it again and mulls over the question. "A... few years ago, I think. The fire-focused ones aren't very popular around here and while we have water mages specialized in heat magic, they usually work exclusively with onsens and ryokans that pay well enough."

"Oh?" Victor asks, sounding interested, and Yuuri shakes his head.

"My mom has her own tricks, she had a heat mage teach her years ago even if she never took the official vows. But they do yearly check ups with professionals and keep other people trained in heat magic working for them at the onsen, mostly as staff," Yuuri explains, shrugging, and Victor hums.

"That explains some things," Victor muses, sounding distracted, and Yuuri considers asking for clarification before the man continues. "What about earth spells? Mud magic seems to be very popular here in the east."

Victor keeps interrogating him about spells and his casting abilities as Yuuri keeps playing with Makkachin, and then as they start heading back home. The man happily shares his own experiences with certain spells after Yuuri asks in an attempt to distract him, and soon the interrogation turns into a conversation over spell-casting gone hilariously wrong. A certain story about trying to cast an earth spell as a dare leaves Victor's laughing hard, and Yuuri grins. It almost makes up for the memory of Phichit snickering for an entire month every time Yuuri tried to shake his sleeves free of unending dirt.

The conversation continues on and off into the night as they bathe and dine, and it's not until Yuuri is leisurely sipping his sake after dinner that a pressing question comes to mind.

"Wait," he says, stilling in realization. "But didn't you come with Makkachin?"

"Yes?" Victor asks, blinking.

"But-- Makkachin is a dog. You can't use transport spells on animals. Their magic isn't compatible with humans."

Victor blinks.

"Makkachin isn't a dog."

"What?"

Makkachin boofs, head comfortably resting on Victor's shoulder, and turns into a ferret.

Yuuri stares.

Makkachin-the-ferret wraps around Victor's shoulders, looking like a fluffed up scarf, and the omega absentmindedly starts to pet him.

"Makkachin is a óборотень, a... shape shifter? Hm, how do you call them in your language, again...?"

"An obake," Yuuri says, distantly, as he feels his entire understanding of the universe realigning. "I thought... Uh..."

"Makkachin prefers big, cuddly canine forms, so it's not surprising you didn't notice. Some people back in Winter haven't noticed and I've had him since I was twelve," Victor shrugs, to Yuuri's soft 'huh'. "Is something wrong, Yuuri?"

_I bought a poodle after your obake and gave it your name_ , Yuuri doesn't say. _Because I thought he was a dog. Because_ everyone _thought he was a dog._

He feels a short pang of grief for his Vicchan, and then one of relief because _Victor won't have to go through that._ Obake are long-lived and nowhere as fragile as non-magical pets. Smarter, too.

And infamously difficult to tame, much less win their loyalty to the point of having them follow you to an entirely different country.

Yuuri shakes his head and looks at Victor and Makkachin in a new light. The man scratches under the ferret's jaw, cooing something about 'Makkachin being such a good scent hound, aren't you?', oblivious to Yuuri's stare.

"Huh," Yuuri says, blinking. " _Huh_."

That night Makkachin joins him in bed in his usual dog shape, and Yuuri wakes up to a curled up little ball of fur sleeping on his chest.

Sleepy-eyed and warm, he smiles.

(For a moment, he thinks of Vicchan.)

 

 

The contract negotiations end up going smoother than Yuuri had expected or is used to, even if some parts had needed some intense negotiating and back and forth dialogue to reach a point where they were acceptable for both parties. 

Yuuri had taken a look at the rough draft before the negotiations even began, lifted an eyebrow at how some points had bold-facedly tried to give the upper-hand to Rain, and had sent it to be written out or changed to fairer alternatives.

Minako, after hearing Yuuri explain how Victor had made sure from the start to trust in their relationship being equal, to the point of going out of his way to be fair, had reticently agreed with his decision. Yuuri had understood her misgivings, the same as he'd understood Mari's long-suffering expression when the final draft had been finished and read over in private.

"I hope you understand the kind of message this will send the world, Yuuri," Minako had grumbled, frowning at the contract. Her grumblings had then devolved into something about the old empire and foolishness, and Yuuri had frowned.

"We didn't put forth any promises about joining our militaries, or military contracts at all." Yuuri had pointed out. 

Minako had sighed.

All in all, it was as equal a contract as it could be while still benefiting both countries and, overall, it was a contract that took into account the shared responsibility for two countries.

Both Yuuri and Victor had agreed to spend half of the year in each other's countries unless dire circumstances like a war on an invasion made it so one had to travel back to their country.

Minako had taken one look at the final product, signed by both rulers and copied and ready to be archived, and shaken her head with a mutter under her breath about "eccentricity" and "in the blood".

("Figures you'd find a way to fulfill your childhood fantasies  _and_ cause an international upheaval while at it," she snips the moment Victor isn't paying attention for a second. Yuuri splutters.)

The contract is probably one of the easiest things Yuuri has ever had to sign, and definitely one of the less anxiety inducing ones, all things considered. It had been left open ended enough to be revised and revisited later on in the future, Victor's thoughts over education and some interesting ideas for economic deals that could be worked on in a few years picking his curiosity, while having lines defined well enough to not fall like an autumn leaf to the wind's whims at the smallest of breezes.

And once the contract is complete, only one thing is left to do:

Plan the wedding(s).

 

 

Yuuri is more than happy to show Victor around the Imperial Palace, letting the omega man and his obake explore the long corridors and joining them for walks in the garden. He also makes sure to introduce him to the most influential people around and his closest allies, although the overlap between them is thankfully pretty consistent. 

Yuuko, for one, is overjoyed with meeting their childhood idol, and even Nishigori shows interest after Victor mentions magical education in Rain being different from what he's used to seeing back in Snow. They meet with the triplets, Victor overjoyed at learning their skating-themed names as Yuuko goes on to gush about the exhibitions in Snow and the Royal Ice Troupe, and the three terrors somehow manage to convince Victor to promise to invite them to a show next season.

It leaves him a bit amazed, how Victor seems to easily run with the triplets' brand of intensity, and he marvels at it even as Yuuko mentions wanting to introduce Yuuri to her newest apprentice and the next generation's rising star of sword and sorcery tournaments. Yuuri nods at her, half-distracted, and tries to figure out how many more people has he left to introduce to Victor before the betrothal party and his official introduction to Rain's nobility comes.

Not that Victor seems to have any trouble jumping around and introducing himself to nobles and lords and even palace staff with a smile, charismatic and courtly even as he stays slightly distant. It makes Yuuri think of the Victor he'd known from rumors and hearsay before he knew the man personally, and it's... strange. But then Victor will look at him and break out into a heart-shaped smile, genuine and warm, and Yuuri will feel his heart skipping a beat at the sight.

Either way, Victor seems to prefer the gardens and the quiet and privacy that comes with walking through them, and Yuuri can understand and empathize with that. Makkachin seems calmer there, too, dozing off under the shade of the trees or near the pond most times while Yuuri and Victor sit side by side and watch the world go by.

Palace life is as hectic as Yuuri remembers it now that he's back into the thick of it and being swallowed alive by paperwork and decisions and conflict, and he enjoys the short moments of peace more than he could ever begin to explain. Moments of uninterrupted peace with Victor, especially, feel like a gift these days.

So when his name is called from across the bridge during one of their nature-watching breaks, Yuuri barely stops himself from sighing aloud.

Yuuko appears first, smiling as Yuuri gets up from his seat on the grass to face whatever stressful thing needs to be done now, bracing himself. Then a smaller, slimmer person follows her, and Yuuri pauses.

That's... a very striking choice of hair color there.

"Yuuri! This is the young apprentice I've been telling you about," Yuuko says, waving her hand politely towards the boy currently staring at Yuuri's shoes with uncomfortably wide eyes and a quickly reddening face. The image is capped off by the boy's constant nervous glances up to Yuuri's face, just to turn a deeper shade of red and look down again. "Minami Kenjirou, our newest fire mage."

"I-it's an honor to meet you, your majesty! A-and his highness too!" Minami says, bowing deeply and looking about to pass out. "I'm Minami Kenjirou, at your service!"

"Uh..."

Victor chuckles, casually wrapping an arm around Yuuri's shoulders, and it probably says something about the man that neither him nor Yuuko bat an eye at the gesture anymore.

"You're a competitor in the SAS tournaments, aren't you?" Victor asks cheerfully, to the boy's stuttered confirmation. "Then call us by our first names. We all were competitors there once, after all."

Minami splutters, head jerking up to look at Victor in disbelief even as his face manages to somehow get _even redder,_ and Yuuri blinks.

It's true that Victor is basically telling a mage apprentice to call his Emperor and future Emperor Consort on a first name basis, but the strong reaction still startles him somewhat. It's also oddly hilarious, once the boy begins to heavily gesticulate as he tries to string random words into a coherent sentence.

"Victor is right, Keijirou-kun," Yuuri finds himself saying, smiling down at the poor boy who looks one step away from passing out of sheer shock. "Once a competitor, always a competitor. You can call us by our first names when we're alone."

The boy stutters some more, the scent of distress and alpha starting to spill as his face goes through more emotions than Yuuri can begin to identify, and then his eyes take on an almost uncomfortable starstruck glint.

"O-okay! Yuuri-sama! Victor-san!" Minami practically shouts in his excitement, "I'll make sure to do my best and make the kingdom proud during my next season!"

"I- We'll... be counting on you, Kenjirou-kun," Yuuri finally stays, awkward and startled by the fervor in Minami's voice. Victor tightens his arm around him for a moment, and Yuuri breathes in. "I look forwards to see you competing, Minami Kenjirou."

Minami makes a high-pitched and frankly alarming sound, and bows frantically through a hail of quick-paced words before he's turning away and sprinting away at top speed.

Yuuri's actually surprised there isn't a cloud of smoke left behind him.

"You really fired him up," Yuuko says, and when Yuuri looks at her he sees she's smiling, soft and amused. "Thank you. He was really looking forwards to meeting you, Yuuri."

"Me?" Yuuri says, stupidly, because of _course_ someone would want to meet the emperor of their country, no matter how average they might actually be.

"Yes, he told me he was a huge fan of yours while you still competed." Yuuko's smile grows bigger as she speaks, and Yuuri stares at her. What. "I don't know much about fire spells and there aren't any fire mages currently in the country, so I was worried he'd feel down about not reaching his full potential before the season started... But he seems rather cheered up, after meeting you two. Thank you."

"I-it's no problem..." Yuuri murmurs, lightly furrowing his brows. He's... not sure about how he feels about Minami being apparently his _fan_ , but... he's glad meeting the both of them apparently helped somehow. He thinks.

"You don't have any fire mages in your court?" Victor asks, derailing Yuuri's thoughts, and he blinks up at his fiancé.

"Ah, no. Most of the population either has a water affinity or an earth one, with a bias towards water. Fire and wind are much rarer, as well as ether," Yuuri explains, then frowns. "The closest we have to fire mages around here are heat-specialized water mages... But I don't think that will help Minami's training much... And we haven't been visited by a fire mage in several months now."

Victor hums, resting a finger over his lips as his eyes close, and Yuuri is momentarily distracted by the sight. Then Victor's eyes snap open, a smile stretching across his lips, and Yuuri snaps out of his daze.

"I think I might know someone who could help." His smile turns sheepish, "Though he won't be available until the competitive season has already begun."

"I can ask Phichit for some help in the meantime, but thank you," Yuuri says, smiling.

"The earth mage from Heat Country?" Victor asks, tilting his head, and Yuuri nods.

"He actually has a double element, earth and fire, but he prefers to use earth on competitions," Yuuri explains, fondly remembering all the times they got themselves charred or accidentally set something on fire. That Lord's eyebrows had never grown back the same again. "We trained together when we were younger and I consider him a good friend. He'll help out if I ask him."

"Thank you, Yuuri," Yuuko says, smiling, and Yuuri blinks at her. "And you too, Victor. I'm sure Minami will appreciate your help the same as he appreciates your encouragement."

"I didn't really do anything..." Yuuri mumbles, but bites his tongue when Yuuko gives him a warning look. 

"I'll be going now before Minami sets something on fire again," Yuuko winks, and Yuuri finally understands the reason behind the recent wave of complaints about random fires in the palace. "My apologies for interrupting your _private time_ , your majesties."

Yuuko bows, barely hiding the smirk on her face, and Yuuri watches her go as his face turns three shades redder.

As much as Yuuko is still the kind but steely eyed child Yuuri had once admired, she's obviously been spending too much time around his sister and Minako-sensei.

Sighing, Yuuri sits back down on the grass, and feels something settle down inside his chest once Victor sits next to him.

They stare at the water, ignoring Yuuko's parting words, and let the silence settle over them. The air between them isn't quite tense, but... unsettled, charged. Yuuri tries not to shift, voice stuck in his throat, feeling awkward. 

Makkachin gets up from his spot next to the water and plops down between them in an obvious ploy for petting. Yuuri moves his arm to pet him, Victor doing the same, and their hands touch. He flinches back, tension increasing as the words stay stuck to his throat, and aggressively focuses on the birdsong and the sound of moving water around them.

"Yuuri-"

"Sorry, I need to go back to my duties now."

"I see."

Victor smiles at him as Yuuri scrambles up on his feet, and it's tight and stretched on his lips, wrong.

Yuuri flees.

(Victor tries to broach the subject again, later on. And again, and again.)

(Yuuri, like the coward he is, keeps fleeing.)

 

 

The wedding comes faster than Yuuri expects, drawing him into a curtain of anxiety, nerves and the frantic organized disorder of people flitting around him. Minako and Yuuko make sure to herd him everywhere once he makes apparent his inability to function on his own, and Yuuri is too frazzled to feel anything more than distant annoyance at being led by the hand like a child. He sees Victor once before they're separated, sharing nervous smiles over breakfast, and then everything Yuuri knows is fabric upon fabric and hours of preparing the ceremonial robes and being poked by more hands he feels comfortable with.

The ceremony itself feels both too fast and unending, almost missing the purification and hands shaking slightly as he shares the three cups with Victor. Victor's smile helps a little, nervousness shining at the corner of his mouth and the tightness around his eyes, and it helps even more when Victor's mouth opens in a heart-shaped smile when they meet again at the reception.

If asked later, Yuuri wouldn't even be able to remember what he said when toasting his parents.

By the time they're standing in Yuuri's room in the underclothes, he almost feels too exhausted from the day to be anxious.

_'Almost'_ being the keyword, as Yuuri still feels his stomach twist into knots, staring at each other in awkward silence before looking at the bed.

Right.

There's a reason Yuuri has done his very best to not think about this moment for the past three weeks.

"Um," Yuuri starts, almost swallowing his tongue, and squirms as the uncomfortable feeling of being fifteen and completely inexperienced again seems to settle in his bones like the heaviest of deja vu.

Victor smiles at the sound, and his face seems to soften further as Yuuri chances a glance before looking down in embarrassment again.

"We don't need to do anything you're not comfortable with, Yuuri," Victor says calmly, and Yuuri has a sudden pang of guilt for ignoring the omega and all but running away from this conversation for the past weeks.

He'd known objectively that Victor would never do anything to force himself on him, and probably wouldn't hold unreasonable expectations on Yuuri, but... well, Yuuri's mind was never the most rational when stress and anxiety mixed together, despite knowing better by now.

"But the court will still be expecting..." Yuuri makes a face, waving at the bed, and well.

Privacy in marriage and anything to do with affection might be common in his country, but that doesn't change the fact that maids talk, nobles talk, courts talk.

And, in the end, everything comes around.

As much as the situation is awkward and one Yuuri's been trying to avoid despite his determination to go through with the wedding, he doesn't want to accidentally jeopardize their alliance by weakening it in others' eyes just because he couldn't consummate their marriage.

(Yuuri might be unraveling a little.)

"Yuuri," Victor says, voice firm, and the tone is enough to snap him out of spiraling panic, looking up to serious eyes and a displeased expression so neutral it could almost be considered taciturn if it wasn't for the sharp glint in his eyes. And oh, when did Victor put his hands on Yuuri's cheeks? "Breathe. What the courts expect doesn't matter, okay?" 

Yuuri frowns at that, mouth opening to answer back, but Victor's look makes him stop. Instead, he concentrates on breathing, soothed by Victor's scent so close to his nose despite himself. Gently, he pulls his face away once he doesn't feel like he's about to float up into the ceiling anymore.

"But we _need_ to do this for the sake of our alliance," Yuuri finally says, looking away. "For the well of our people."

"Maybe," Victor concedes, lightly. Then there's a hand on his cheek again, moving his face until they're eye to eye again. The hand stays. "But wouldn't you rather prefer if it was something we did for our  _own_ sake as well?"

Yuuri blinks at the words, staring into blue eyes with no little shock, and Victor's smile softens, twisting into something bittersweet. "It's okay if you never want to have... this kind of connection with me, Yuuri. I'm sorry, I guess I never did ask what you wanted me to be to you."

Yuuri swallows and takes a deep breath.

"I don't want you to become anything for my sake, Victor. I just want you to keep being you," Yuuri says, voice soft, and his hand tentatively curls around the one resting on his cheek. It's soft, softer than usual, moisturized by the aromatic salt waters and other products Victor had been bathed in for the last hour. "I don't... I don't mind, uh," he glances at the bed, nervously, and licks his lips before looking back at Victor's intense, slightly dazed expression, "I don't mind... _that_. I'm not a virgin. And I wouldn't mind it with you, either." Yuuri confesses, face flushing up to his ears, and he closes his eyes tight like it'll make the words he just said somehow less embarrassing. "I just... I'm nervous. Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for that, Yuuri," Victor whispers, free hand wrapping around Yuuri's and lifting it to his lips. Yuuri feels a shiver run down his spine at the sweet, gentle kiss. "It's okay if you're not ready yet."

"But I want to be!" Yuuri retorts, feeling bravado burst forth in answer to the pike of anger at his own weakness. "I don't want to disappoint you, Victor."

Victor smiles, leaning down until their noses are touching, and Yuuri feels a spike of lust at the half-lidded eyes and alluring expression on the omega's face.

"You never could," Victor murmurs against his lips, and then they're meeting in a soft, gentle touch. Yuuri's throat makes a sound, something between a sigh and a soft gasp of pleasure, and he lets the man take charge as the omega slowly moves his lips against his. Every soft press soothes the ugly something in Yuuri's chest a little more, and he gladly melts into the kiss. "Let's take it slow, okay? The night is long." Victor whispers between kisses, voice soft and deep in a way that makes Yuuri's throat tighten and his heart flutter. "Is this okay?"

Yuuri breathes out, shaky and flustered with desire, and answers the omega by throwing himself back into the kiss. Victor makes a sound of delighted surprise, and soon their tentative, soft kissed turn heated, needy as Victor moves of Yuuri's hands to his hips and all but gives him permission to explore, the man doing likewise with Yuuri's body.

Their make out session leaves them panting against each other's mouths, tongues tangling together while their bodies rock against the other in an intimate dance. Yuuri feels himself being pulled apart at the seams, opened raw as they move and come together, and the feeling of not knowing the next steps of their dance should be nerve-wracking. Instead, with Victor, it feels _exciting_.

(Yuuri is looking forwards to learn more about Victor, about how his body moves and how his face twists in the throes of passion, and the thought has him moving them towards the bed as he feels the temperature rise and his pants become increasingly uncomfortable.)

Victor makes a soft noise as his knees knock against the bed, falling down as an especially passionate kiss makes him lose his balance, and the omega stares up at Yuuri like he's surprised by the sudden materialization of the piece of furniture. Then he laughs, soft and breathless, and Yuuri smiles and chuckles with him as he crawls into the bed. Victor scoots back as he does so, just enough so that Yuuri ends up being framed by long legs, and smiles at him.

"So forward," Victor teases, and Yuuri has half a second to feel self-consciousness kick back before the man is leaning into his ear and practically purring, "I like that."

"Well," Yuuri breathes out, feeling his heart in his throat and grateful that his voice still manages to come out smoothly, "tell me more of what you like, then." 

"Hmm, only if you tell me what you like too, Yuuri." Victor's smile is mischievous, a hand caressing Yuuri's cheek with a softness that belies his expression, and Yuuri grabs the hand and plants a kiss on the middle of the palm.

His eyes find Victor's.

"I can do that." 

Victor's eyes widen slightly, almost unnoticeable if Yuuri wasn't already looking, and he feels a purr of satisfaction build on his throat at the soft blush that comes to Victor's face.

The night is long and tonight is just theirs, so Yuuri happily sets down to slowly explore every inch of Victor's body. Silently, he marvels at his luck with every kiss and every graze of his fingers over skin, lips, nipples, brought to the realization all over again that this is the man he's admired for half of his life and wanted to meet on equal grounds. And now, they belong to each other. 

He's been blessed in the strangest, most backward way he's ever heard of, but he thanks the gods anyways and writes promises with his lips and hands. Whatever reason made Victor choose him, he wants to keep it. He wants to share the rest of his life with this man.

Watching Victor come apart and back together under Yuuri's hands and fingers, it feels like a beginning.

Holding each other as they drift to sleep afterward feels like a promise.

They start sharing a bed every night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow country and heat talks (and "talks").  
> The second wedding approaches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who might want to avoid the sexy times, you'll want to stop after 'whispering about doing much worse in his ear' and CTRL+F to 'Their little "break" helps'!  
> Enjoy!

When the first half of the year is over, Yuuri is understandably concerned. He'd thrown himself back into his duties after the wedding, making time for short dates with his now husband twice after Minako had hovered menacingly and promised retribution if he 'didn't take breaks again', and while Yuuri admits the changes in his routine had been for the better he still feels iffy about leaving for a full six months.

Minako and Mari swear up and down they'll send him updates through magic-mail and won't let him slack off while he's away, and Yuuri guesses he has Victor as living proof of the effectivity of that strategy. The man has been neck deep in his own political and economic affairs while in the imperial castle, all the stacks of documents apparently brought to him "as punishment" for "being an ungrateful and selfish brat". Yuuri had stared in incredulity when Victor happily explained it was just his advisor's way of "showing he cared", but understood a little better when the wedding came. Duke Feltsman had sent an envoy to the wedding, along with a long, dryly worded letter to Victor and a shorter and much more formal one to Yuuri. Victor had cheerfully read him excerpts of his own aloud.

Still, Yuuri feels uneasy leaving his country for that long. He can't really begin to imagine how Victor did it for over six months.

But then again, Victor is amazing even at ruling a country from far away, so maybe Yuuri shouldn't be trying to compare his average self to Victor's. Really, the fact that he became emperor at all validates everything ever said about accidents of birth, no matter how much Minako might say otherwise, and in his lowest moments Yuuri wonders if he wasn't actually exchanged with the actual prince at birth, ridiculous the notion as it is.

Victor, of course, notices his slowly spiraling mood, and while his first attempts to deal with Yuuri's anxiety had generally been clumsy or mildly effective and, on one memorable time, completely disastrous, he seems to know what to say this time around.

"I believe in you, Yuuri." Victor's voice is soft as he kisses the ring in Yuuri's right hand, something he had insisted was traditional in Snow for engaged and married couples. Victor had promised a second one when they got married there, and Yuuri was beginning to worry about how many rings he'd be wearing by the end of the year. "You can rule a country even if you're away. And you can always come back if the country needs you."

Yuuri smiles, feeling his heart ache at the soft and fond expression in Victor's eyes, and makes sure to kiss him soundly once they're on a more secluded part of the gardens. He still has doubts and fears but, with Victor's faith, he feels he can push the familiar voice of anxiety away for long enough.

And then they're packing and saying their goodbyes, leaving the country behind as the ship sails away unnaturally fast, spellwork carved especially deep into the wood and charged to the brim for fast travels.

Victor kisses his hair, shamelessly wrapping his arms around Yuuri's hip in public, and Yuuri leans into the touch and sighs.

His husband makes sure to make him forget all his worries that night, voice muffled on their pillows as Victor laughs and gently teases and dares him to be louder.

(Victor, himself, has no qualms about being loud once it's his turn to be on the receiving end of Yuuri's ministrations.

Yuuri is unable to look the sailors in the eye for the rest of the voyage.)

 

 

Snow is cold, as vast and dark and enchanting as Yuuri remembers, and while it's hard at first to get used to everything that's different in the foreign country, after a few months he starts to feel like he's carving himself a place in the palace life.

Victor is nothing if aggressively welcoming, insisting on taking Yuuri to all kinds of places and introducing him to all kind of people (especially those he's in better terms with and seems to actually like), and while the attention is overwhelming at first the omega man seems to calm down after he notices Yuuri's discomfort (or, well, stumbles upon Yuuri having a panic attack, but the more details left unsaid about that mess the better). Then it's taking walks in the gardens and spending time with Makkachin and enjoying each other's presence and... yeah, it is pretty nice.

Grand Duke Yuri, who Yuuri had met as part of the envoy sent to the wedding and who been prickly and grumpy from the start, underestimating Yuuri's ability to rule in a way that was almost hilarious, is ironically enough one of the people he ends up spending a good deal of his time with. The teen slowly warms up to him, insults hissed whenever he count get away with it turning into affectionate nicknames, and Yuuri finds him oddly likeable in his own 'grumpy, hissy cat' kind of way. A true match to Yuri's feline-shaped obake, indeed.

Yuuri is also more than happy to teach the teen how to make his mother's katsudon recipe, after the teen reticently admits to craving the food since Yuuri's wedding reception. In turn, Yuuri feels delighted when Yuri proudly presents him a 'katsudon pirozhki', feeling warmth and affection settle inside him when he takes the first bite of the savory food Yuri had created with his grandfather.

He feels like he's slowly building a home away from home, even among a few court nobles, and the thought fills him with hope and something close to happiness. Victor and their relationship, too, seems to settle deeper into their foundations, working its way into Yuuri until he can't imagine a life without the man despite all the hours Victor spends bent over paperwork. Yuuri can relate, and gladly groans in empathy when Victor complains about aching fingers as they cuddle. Minako and Mari are keeping their promise of not holding any paperwork back on him, and his back is feeling it. Although Yuuri has to admit, he's keeping up the date nights and now weekly outings with Yuri and some of the other nobles, not to mention their impromptu cooking classes.

(Although Yuuri has to admit he's keeping up the date nights and now weekly outings with Yuri and some of the other nobles, not to mention their impromptu cooking classes.)

Somehow, Yuuri doesn't feel half as exhausted as he did before meeting Victor, and he wonders about it again as he stares at the man sleeping soundly next to him with a soft smile. They haven't had sex since their arrival to Snow Country, and while in a different context Yuuri would've taken the lack of it negatively and picked at the worry until it was swollen and infected and ugly, it's hard for his anxiety to monopolize this set of insecurities when Victor insists on bathing him in affection whenever they have the slimmest slip of time and privacy. Despite what internalized and ignored misgivings Yuuri might have had with his nature and his generally low interest in sex, Victor never seems less than content with just holding him and kissing him and occasionally lazily rutting against him as they make out. The knowledge makes Yuuri feel calm and safe, even with politics and ruling two different countries keep them apart for days at a time.

Despite what internalized and ignored misgivings Yuuri might have had with his nature and his generally low interest in sex, Victor never seems less than content with just holding him and kissing him and occasionally lazily rutting against him as they make out. The knowledge makes Yuuri feel calm and safe, even with politics and ruling two different countries keeping them apart for days at a time.

(Unfortunate circumstances that sometimes lead to Victor being a _tad_ too enthusiastic in showing Yuuri his love. He still doesn't know what to do with the bear.)

Victor's eyelashes flutter open, looking soft and delicate like butterfly wings, and Yuuri feels his breath catch in his throat as blue eyes look at him under half-lidded eyelashes.

"Yuuri?" Victor says, voice rough with sleep as he cuddles closer to Yuuri and buries his face in his neck. Yuuri smiles.

"Sorry. Did I wake you?"

Victor makes a negative sound that verges on displeased whine and presses his face against Yuuri's neck, breathing right over Yuuri's scent gland. And oh.

Oh.

Yeah, scenting is something they've been doing pretty often too, isn't it? Especially whenever they need to be apart for long.

It's... comforting.

"I missed you," Victor says, managing to sound both earnest and like a sulking child, and Yuuri hums and buries his hand in Victor's hair like he's wanted to do since he woke up to the sight of the silvery locks spilling over the pillow.

"It was a long week," Yuuri admits with a sigh, snuggling deeper into their little cocoon and rubbing his cheek against Victor's hair. The cheeks aren't exactly heavy on scent glands, but Victor's pleased hum is enough to belie that. The reaction makes Yuuri chuckle into his hair. "I missed you too, Vitya."

"I don't want to leave you ever again," Victor sighs, lazily rubbing his face against Yuuri's scent gland, and Yuuri feels a low purr build in his throat without his permission. "We should just have everything brought to bed. Food, paperwork. Even visits and envoys, they can just come here instead of going all the way to the throne room. We should hold court here."

Yuuri chuckles, making strands of Victor's bangs fly with his breath, and buries his nose in Victor's hair with a kiss.

"I don't think Yakov would approve of that, Victor. Or anyone else, for that matter," Yuuri murmurs, fondness in his voice so obvious he can taste it on his lips.

Victor hums.

"Not even you?"

"Well... I prefer to be the only one who gets to see you like this, if I'm being honest. So, no. Not even me," Yuuri says, hand traveling up Victor's naked back, and Victor practically _melts_ in answer.

" _Yuuri_ ," Victor whines, voice torn between joy and affection and something obviously needy, and Yuuri chuckles and rubs his wrist against Victor's neck. The omega, delighted, bares his neck as best as he can while keeping his face glued to Yuuri's own scent gland.

Their lazy scenting continues for a while, Victor peppering kisses and small bites over his shoulders and neck, and Yuuri breathes in their wonderfully mixed scents as they cuddle as close together as possible. Chest against chest, heartbeats pressing against each other's skin, legs intertwined so tightly it's hard to tell them apart from each other. There's the beginning of something both spicy and sweet in Victor's scent, something that smells like need and something primal, and Yuuri makes a small questioning noise before he's even fully aware of it.

"Victor?" Yuuri asks when Victor's answer is just a similar noise echoed back. "Is something the matter? You smell... a bit different."

Victor tenses a second before going back to being putty against Yuuri, face tucked insistently against Yuuri's neck like a demanding puppy, or one trying to hide.

After a few seconds of silence, Victor sighs.

"My heat is coming soon," Victor murmurs against his skin, and oh. That explains the smell, as well as Victor's recent insistence on increasing their cuddling and scenting sessions. "Soon after the wedding, actually."

"Do you..." Yuuri starts, swallowing down his nervousness, and quickly tries to remember all he knows about heats. It's been a long time since he last had to worry about one, even if his father is an omega himself. "Do you want me to leave you some of my clothes, or...?"

Victor's arms tighten around him, his face pressing against Yuuri's scent gland, so close he shivers when Victor's hot breath caresses over it.

"Do you not want to spend it with me?"

"Only if you want to," Yuuri says after a moment of hesitation, unable to figure out the tone of Victor's voice. It sets him on edge, and a small part of him wants to look Victor in the face for this conversation, but he knows the man well enough to predict his reaction if Yuuri pushes him away during this moment, now when they're so intimately joined. It's easier for Yuuri this way too, if he's being honest, even if it doesn't sit entirely well with him. "I won't force you to spend your heat with me, Victor, the same way you wouldn't force me to spend my rut with you. I want to do what's more comfortable for you, but you'll need to tell me what that is."

Victor sighs, a full body movement that Yuuri feels against every inch of himself, and he kisses the crown of Victor's head again, a light, barely there gesture.

"I want you," Victor says, nosing up Yuuri's throat and jaw until they're face to face, pressing their foreheads together and breathing in the same air. "I want to spend my heat with you, Yuuri."

Yuuri smiles, and nods. "Okay."

"But we'll use contraceptives," Victor adds, an expression flitting through his face that seems to be a mix of twenty different emotions and something like panic. "I don't-"

Yuuri laughs and nods again, fondly nuzzling his forehead against Victor's. "Me neither, yes, okay. That sounds good."

They smile at each other then, soft and full of love, and slowly join lip to lip.

It's good, and _right_ , and the feeling curls up in Yuuri's chest like a small animal that has finally found its home, safe and warm and protected.

It feels like contentment and love.

 

 

Yuuri soon learns that, apparently, planning weddings close to someone's heat and/or rut is actually a common tradition in Snow Country. The explanation sits a bit strange with him after being taught all his life that hormonal cycles are things better kept private and between yourself and your mate, but Yuuri accepts it all the same. Cultural differences or not, it doesn't change the fact that they're getting married again, and in accordance with Victor's homeland's traditions this time around.

It had felt like a rational compromise at the time of drawing up the contract, but nowadays Yuuri is starting to wonder with no small amusement if Victor had enjoyed having that "compromise" more than he'd been led to believe.

If anything, it's cute seeing Victor as excitable and interested over the cultural details of their winter wedding as he was fascinated with the details of their summer one. In turn, Yuuri tries to show interest in them too, asking Victor for every cultural detail and piece of heavy symbolism he doesn't understand. 

The wedding preparations drag them into a flurry of work in much the same way the last one did, although this time around the general planning is left to one of Victor's friends instead of Minako and Yuuri's parents. Duke Popovich gladly accepts the responsibility even as he keeps bemoaning his latest heartbreak, and Yuuri somehow gets used to the man crying and dramatically bursting into monologues about love and the dark arts during their meetings to make sure everything is going well and on schedule.

They don't move the throne room to the bedchamber like Victor had jokingly proposed, but they do move their studios temporarily together after the third missed weekly date in a row. At least this way they still have each other's presence and scent nearby, even if towers of paperwork separate them. 

Victor's presence also comes with the added benefit of keeping him from pushing for all nighters or working long into the night. The omega's unamused, sometimes downright pouty expressions and scheming tear him away from unending lines of nonsensical sentences every time despite Yuuri's best efforts to resist the man.

They try to keep themselves from getting distracted too often during work hours after the second time Yuri walks in on them and screams bloody murder.

(Yuuri later learns that the reason they've been interrupted only _two_ times is that Yuri is the only person who dares make his opinions loud and clear when he catches them at it, and wants to die of embarrassment. Victor reticently gives in when Yuuri puts their "little breaks" on hold.)

Without the constant necking and cuddling though, Yuuri quickly starts to feel the tension between them escalating. One week before the wedding comes, Yuuri finally snaps, seeing Victor working himself to the bone and losing track of time until they're both hunched over their desks past nightfall. Victor's smell has been getting stronger and harder to ignore for Yuuri, who's become used to the feeling of having a semi-permanent itch under his skin while he works. Victor seems uncomfortable as well, early signs of his approaching heat leaving his side of the studio covered in knick knacks and snacks and even the beginnings of frost when his magic starts to bleed out and brings cold spells to the room. Yuuri has started to bring blankets for the both of them, swapping them like clockwork and spending so much time distracted over Victor's scent around his shoulders that he's starting to feverishly wonder if his body is being dragged into an early rut with all the sexual frustration building up inside of him.

So Yuuri snaps, unable to stay one second longer inside their shared studio, open windows and roaring fire and wonderful smelling blankets and all, and grabs Victor by the wrist before bolting for the door. Victor follows, a sound of surprise leaving his mouth as Yuuri drags him away, and he can feel the heat of the omega's eyes curl under his spine, electrifying.

Yuuri's mind isn't exactly on that track of thought though, and he bypasses their living quarters without a second glance, ignoring Victor's soft sound of confusion.

Instead, he finds a servant and requests for their coats to be brought to the gardens as fast as possible, continuing on his path towards the entranceway and out of the endless palace hallways.

"The gardens?" Victor asks, sounding confused, and Yuuri squeezes his wrist in reassurance, not looking back at the man.

Before long they're outside, wrapped in their winter coats and holding hands through their mittens, Yuuri guiding Victor through frozen trees and mounds of snow to a certain destination.

He looks back at his husband as they reach the lake, taking in the man's expression with a sudden pang of nervousness. Still, Yuuri takes a deep breath and lets go of Victor's hand, lifting one of his own in an offer.

"Shall we skate?"

Victor smiles and takes Yuuri's hand.

"Is this your way to get us to cool down, Yuuri?" Victor asks, voice dancing in amusement and a slip of fake disapproval, and Yuuri chuckles, cheeks already too red for his blush to make a difference.

"Maybe," he answers playfully, lifting his legs as Victor conjures blades of ice on the underside of their boots with a gesture.

They lean on each other's hands as they step into the ice, stumbling on rough patches and laughing under their breath until Victor waves a hand again and the ice is smoothed out by his magic. Not having to worry about stumbling anymore, they begin to skate around, keeping hold of each other's hands as best as possible with the mittens on and laughing as they go through their little routine, spinning and touching and moving into twisting step sequences in synch. It's a bit like sparring while being nothing at all like it, and the absurdity of the thought makes Yuuri chuckle as he dips Victor as best as he can without accidentally dropping him. It's hard to keep a grip while wearing mittens, and Yuuri's posture must look completely terrible as a result. He's suddenly glad Lady Baranovskaya isn't there to watch them make fools of themselves.

Knowing what Victor's next movement will be and moving in answer in a dance of their own is enough to make Yuuri feel the stress lift off of his shoulders, lighting him up from the inside out. With how Victor smiles at him, Yuuri thinks the feeling is mutual.

They're so absorbed in a world of their own that they forget themselves, accidentally spinning too close to the edges of the lake, and Yuuri yelps as he stumbles on the snowy ground and goes now. Victor follows him, dragged by the grip of their hands, and wraps his free arm around Yuuri's head as they fall and crash. Looking up, they stare at each other on the ground, the breath knocked out of their lungs by the impact.

They slowly smile, breaking into giggles, and then full blown laughter takes over them as they cling to each other, their foreheads meeting. Yuuri feels his body relax on the snow as his laughter drifts off, watching Victor's face with a small smile on his lips, and it feels like a thousand conversations are shared between their eyes. Their lips come together, Yuuri's cold and slightly chapped despite Victor's best attempts to keep them moisturized, and he smiles into their kiss as Victor pulls away and then back in, peppering his lips and cheeks with small pecks.

The next time their lips meet Victor licks at the edges of his mouth, Yuuri opening with a soft sigh, and his arms wrap tighter around Victor's body as their kiss turns heated, trying to pull them closer and irritated by all the layers separating them. Victor makes a small sound of encouragement, pressing his tongue inside Yuuri's mouth and playfully rutting against him. The gesture makes a spark of heat run down his spine despite the encroaching cold, and Yuuri only pulls away when he starts to feel his back going numb, limbs aching in protest.

"Cold," Yuuri complains, Victor chuckling into his lips as he steals one last peck before propping himself up on his forearms and moving away.

"A pile of snow is not the best place to do this, is it?" Victor says, and his eyes darken. "Want to go back inside?"

Yuuri hums, enjoying the hunger in Victor's gaze, before taking the omega's outstretched hand and lifting himself up from the ground.

The movement pulls them together, chest to chest and almost lip to lip, and Yuuri smiles and stands on his toe picks for a quick peck before skating away, chuckling as Victor's dazed expression turns into that of a kicked puppy.

"Catch me first, Vitya," Yuuri dares, and Victor's face changes again, determination and playful heat darkening his features as he smirks and dashes after him.

Yuuri skates as fast as he can, laughing as he dodges Victor's attempts as grabbing him, dancing out of the way each time, and laughs especially hard when Victor overshoots in an attempt to tackle him into a snow bank and instead ends up kissing the snow face first.

"Yuuri!" Victor whines, sitting up and shaking his head to dislodge the snow from his hat and the tips of his bangs. "You know I don't have as much stamina as you."

Yuuri huffs in amusement, skating close to the omega, and lets himself be pulled off the ice and on Victor's lap by the legs. He flops down with a small 'oof', glad the snow isn't quite as unforgiving as the ice on his knees, and smiles when Victor doesn't wait to pull them close and press their lips together. The man hums, a pleased, happy sound as Yuuri presses back into the kiss, and then their kisses are turning filthy, charged with pent up tension as Victor's hands drift down Yuuri's sides and wrap around his ass, pressing him against Victor's crotch. Victor's scent is intoxicating up close, all arousal and pheromones and need, and Yuuri squirms against him as he returns the desire in turn, feeling his irritation at the lack of mobility that comes with wearing so many layers mount. Victor seems to share his frustration, fruitlessly trying to grind against him before their mouths separate, a string of saliva connecting them together.

"Let's go inside?" Victor asks, pawing at Yuuri's clothes and looking almost tempted to start stripping right there despite the cold, and Yuuri nods.

"Let's, yes." He presses for another kiss, less filthy but still with tongue, and then he's scrambling up his feet and helping Victor get up, both of them skating to the edge of the lake they came from and jumping on the snow even as Victor's magic breaks off the ice blades. They don't _quite_ run the way back, but Yuuri refuses to let go of Victor's hand, hands wrapped around each other as they skip and egg the other on into breaking in short, competitive runs that leave them panting in the frigid air and laughing.

(There's a familiar heat thrumming under Yuuri's skin, one he's come to associate with Victor, and he lets it pool low in his stomach in wait.)

By the time they get to their rooms they're both giggling and feeling half drunk on desire, kisses being stolen in empty hallways as they walk and Victor whispering about doing much worse in his ear. The door closes behind them with a resounding thump, closing them off to the world, and then Yuuri is pinning Victor against the door and kissing his breath away. He presses his leg between Victor's, making a low noise of appreciation when Victor presses his crotch back against his hip, and filthy kisses give way to mouthing a path down the omega's jaw and neck. Yuuri nips at Victor's scent gland, feeling the responding moan vibrate against his lips and travel all the way down to his dick, and starts to nibble the skin until Victor is heaving. He clings to Yuuri's shoulders, legs trembling like they're about to give under him, and Yuuri hums. Victor's crotch starts to rub against his hip at the stimulation, stuttering with a gasp when Yuuri gives the erogenous zone a particularly vicious bite, and Yuuri licks the tender flesh in apology.

Yuuri sneaks his hands under Victor's ass, taking the time to squeeze the perfect cheeks, and then he lifts the man up and turns around.

Victor laughs, equal parts startled and delighted, and Yuuri chuckles in response as he takes the opportunity to bury his face in the omega's chest and try his best to scent the shirt by rubbing his cheeks and forehead against it.

He's reticent to let Victor go once they're in front of the bed, but he knows better now than to try to manhandle him into it, his back still twinging in remembered pain after almost pulling a muscle back in Rain. Instead, Yuuri turns around as soon as his legs reach the bed, and he tries to sit down without dislodging Victor's ass from where it's wiggling so prettily against Yuuri's clothed erection.

Victor seems to have a different idea in mind though, pouncing as soon as he notices the bed instead, and both men go crashing down.

"Victor!" Yuuri wheezes, winded and half squished under Victor's body, and the omega hums, noisily kissing a path down Yuuri's hair.

"I want you inside me," Victor whispers once he reaches his ear, voice going deep and sweet like honey. "I want you so bad."

Victor punctuates the words by tugging at Yuuri's clothes, and he feels his breath stuttering.

He wraps his hands around Victor's ass cheeks again, squeezing and dragging them up until his nails scratch at the clothed globes, and feels Victor's moan going through his body like a full body shiver.

"Then get ready for me, Vitya," Yuuri whispers back, hot and filthy. "Get your pretty hole ready for me."

Victor makes a sound, burying his face in Yuuri's neck to nip at his scent gland, and Yuuri bares more of his throat with a hum. Leaving a path of kisses and bites down Yuuri's throat and the dip of his neck, Victor sits up, tugging at Yuuri's clothes insistently before he starts to take off his own. Yuuri follows him up, kissing Victor deeply while his arms are still trapped by the shirt and smiling at the needy sound Victor makes in answer before taking his glasses off and starting to undress.

"You like being tied up, Vitya?" Yuuri asks in a fit of boldness, calmly undoing the buttons and knots of his blouse and the strings keeping his sleeves shut off from the cold. He's not sure where they left the mittens or when they took them off, but it's not exactly a priority on his mind at the moment. Victor makes another needy noise, and Yuuri smirks. "We could try that someday if you want to."

"I do," Victor rasps, going back for a kiss as his hands scramble to tug at Yuuri's pants, completely ignoring his own. "But I want you more, now."

"You have me," Yuuri breathes against his lips, wrapping his arms around Victor's back and the back of his head before turning them around.

Victor falls with an exhale, short hair splaying on the covers and face flushed and looking already wrecked just from kissing, and Yuuri licks his lips before dropping down to kiss Victor's forehead once, twice and three times.

"Yuuri," Victor mumbles, the beginning of a pout in his voice, and Yuuri smiles against the smooth and shiny skin and shushes him softly.

"You have me and I have you," Yuuri murmurs, rubbing his nose against Victor's skin before starting a path of kisses down his temple and cheek. He drops a kiss on Victor's nose and then one on his lips, eyes locking together. "I love you."

Victor breathes in, eyelashes fluttering prettily, and Yuuri feels a spark of satisfaction and adoration at how his eyes become shinier, slightly moist.

He continues kissing a path down Victor's throat and chest, nuzzling against the collarbone and his nipples and slowly scenting every inch of Victor's skin with his hands and face. Victor squirms, breathing heavy, and gasps and hums with every little bite and hickey Yuuri litters his body with. He tongues his way down the dip of Victor's stomach, pulling away to help Victor get out of his pants and underwear, and kisses Victor's navel afterward, making the omega squirm. Chuckling, he continues kissing his path down and moves away when Victor's hardness comes to licking distance, chuckling at the whine of displeasure Victor makes.

"You tease," Victor complains, and Yuuri nibbles at his hip bone and chuckles.

"Sorry," he lies.

Victor huffs but doesn't seem all that bothered, going back to gasping and whispering his approval and Yuuri's name as he starts biting down his inner thighs, one of Yuuri's hands wrapped tight around Victor's, fingers interlocked.

"Vitya," he breathes against Victor's thigh, and hums at the hitch of breath over him, kissing the warm skin softly in answer.

Yuuri's hands caress their way down Victor's hips and thighs as he kisses his way down the man's legs, rubbing and massaging his knee pits as he nuzzles Victor's ankle, nipping at the soft milky skin.

Victor's breath hitches again as Yuuri lifts one of his feet with reverence, and he plants a kiss on the arch of it before nuzzling it, smiling.

"Yuuri," Victor whispers, and Yuuri looks at him, smile turning slightly apologetic.

"Sorry, we should do this again after we shower. Your feet kind of smell."

Victor's laugh is startled out of him, loud and full of joy. Yuuri gives the foot one last kiss before carefully leaving it back on the mattress, and then he climbs his way up to nuzzle at Victor's hip and scratch softly at his inner thighs.

"Does that mean-" Victor starts, voice choked off between the beginning of a moan and laughter. "That you face smells like feet now?"

Yuuri bites Victor's hip bone and lets his hands squirm up to caress the omega's balls in revenge. Victor's yelp is interrupted by a moan, and Yuuri smiles against his skin even as Victor calls his name in a bad attempt at a displeased whine.

Victor's hips wiggle, hunting for friction, and Yuuri shifts his hand away and lightly scratches a path down Victor's thigh, smiling at his reaction.

" _Yuuri_."

"I thought I told you to get ready for me, Victor," Yuuri answers, smiling in mischief, and his eyes widen when Victor doesn't wait a moment to shove two fingers into his hole, giving Yuuri a perfect view as the digits sink into the tight, wet heat.

Yuuri hums to cover up a moan, although Victor doesn't care to do the same, panting and moaning as he stretches himself. Yuuri kisses his hip in approval, doling out encouragement and praise under his breath and enjoying the way Victor seems to light up and get louder with every word.

Victor's cock bobs abandoned, stiff and heavy and minutely shifting with every thrust and squirm of Victor's hips, and Yuuri licks his lips before giving into temptation.

Working around Victor's hand, Yuuri lets his outstretched palm caress his way up from Victor's balls to the tip of his cock, putting in just enough pressure to press the warm erection against Victor's stomach. Then he taps the sensitive tip with a finger, enjoying the twitching it produces, and curls his hand into a fist around the length of the dick. Victor's moans, if anything, seem to increase, and Yuuri pumps him a few times before he licks at the hot muscle, dragging his tongue up to the head before taking the cock in his mouth and sinking down. Victor keens, stomach muscles going stiff under Yuuri's fingers before spasming, and Yuuri tongues at the veins, tasting the salty musk and relaxing his throat to take him deeper.

" _Yuu-ri_ ," Victor whimpers, voice starting to go rough around the edges, and the sound goes straight to Yuuri's cock, aching and still trapped in his pants. "I'm- _ah_ , I'm close..."

Yuuri lifts his head until he's kissing Victor's cock, and then sinks back down, taking the length as deep as possible as he hums around it.

It does the trick and Victor comes with a shout, hips snapping up and hitting Yuuri in the nose before he can press his hand down on them. He swallows Victor's seed as best as he can, ignoring his sore nose, and feels some of it dribbling out of the corners of his lips. Yuuri only lets the softening dick pop out when Victor blinks down at him, eyes wet and a few tears still visible once Yuuri is close enough to his face to see them despite the lack of glasses. 

Victor smiles at him, looking dazed and blissed out, and Yuuri nuzzles his hand when the omega softly touches his cheek, thumb wiping away the mess on Yuuri's mouth before rubbing it against his neck. Yuuri hums, draping his half-dressed body around Victor's side, and nuzzles the man's throat as his hips lazily rub against warm skin.

"Let me take care of you?" Victor asks, voice still rough from use, and Yuuri sighs softly when he feels a hand pressing against his erection.

"Water first," Yuuri says **,** reluctantly pulling away from Victor's body and kissing the man deeply when he makes an unhappy noise in answer. "Think you can go for a second round?"

"Mmm mm," Victor nods, eyes fixed on Yuuri's lips, intense. Yuuri realizes that Victor can probably still taste himself, and he smirks before dropping a kiss on the omega's forehead and getting up, grabbing his glasses on the way out.

Yuuri's halfway to the doors when a thought crosses his mind, and he smiles even as he turns his head.

"Vitya?" Yuuri asks, Victor's answering him distracted, eyes shamelessly fixed on Yuuri's backside. "Could you be good and finish preparing yourself for me? We're still not done with that, now."

Victor's body stills, eyes looking almost black from the distance, and the shade of pink that travels down his chest and up his ears is enough answer for Yuuri.

Still smiling, he leaves the room and goes in the search of one of the water bottles they've started to preemptively hoard for the heat. He has about two seconds to second-guess himself and his attempts at dirty talk before he hears a loud moan travel from the open doors, way too loud for it to be nothing but Victor shamelessly trying to lure him back inside faster, and Yuuri scrambles to get the water and a clean glass before returning to his husband. Dazed with the desire pooling down in his groin and the familiar itch on his skin, Yuuri doesn't even feel ashamed by how effective Victor's tactic is.

He stops dead on his feet when he enters the room, watching Victor thrust four fingers inside his wet, sloppy hole in an obscene sight. Letting out a trembling sigh, Yuuri rushes back to Victor's side, meeting heated gaze with heated gaze, and somehow manages to convince the man to drink an entire glass before he's tugging Yuuri into the bed and out of his pants. Yuuri moans as Victor's fingers wrap around his length, gaze hot and hungry even if his own cock still rests half limp over Victor's pubic hair. Yuuri sinks his hands in the omega's hair as Victor languidly pumps him, the shiny slick on his hands smoothing down the slide.

"Good?" Victor asks, voice soft, and Yuuri nods and caresses Victor's ear as an answer. Victor's answering hum sounds like bliss and happiness, and Yuuri's heart aches with the need to have Victor only ever make that sound again.

"Did you take your contraceptives this week?" Yuuri asks instead, the thoughtfulness of the question surprising even to himself with how clouded his brain is with need, and Victor hums an affirmative.

Victor looks up at Yuuri, eyes so blue and hypnotizing in their open adoration he feels like he's drowning in it, and the realization that he'd do anything the man asked of him doesn't even faze him anymore.

"I'm ready, Yuuri," Victor says, eyelashes drooping in a way he knows makes Yuuri's breath stutter, and Yuuri licks his lips before looking down at Victor's inviting body.

"Are you sure?" He still asks, "You're not..."

Victor nods, smiling. Then his eyes darken, equal parts mischief and a growing heat burning in his eyes.

"I want to get hard while you're in me, Yuuri," Victor says, mouth moving tantalizingly close to Yuuri's own member. "And then I want to go soft while you're still in me."

Victor's breath is hot and humid against Yuuri's dick, and Yuuri let's out a shuddering breath even as Victor pulls away, eyes burning with promises and legs opening wider in invitation. He climbs his way down the bed, sitting between Victor's legs, and rests his hands on the omega's knees. Yuuri starts to massage the skin there, rubbing his fingers over muscle and bone as he hungrily drinks in the vision in front of him. Victor, open and inviting and soft, a smile on his lips and a hungry gleam in his eyes as he shifts his hips. Victor, miles and miles of muscle and pale skin only marred by thin scars from his competitive days, perfect in its imperfections and gleaming with a thin and mostly dried sheen of sweat. Victor, there and wonderful and real like the Yuuri from last year wouldn't have been able to even imagine, and he's  _Yuuri's._

Yuuri smiles, seeing the warmth on his chest being reflected in Victor's eyes, and lets his hands drift down Victor's thighs as he shifts closer. He notices the pillow already under the omega's lower back as he moves his knees, spreading Victor's thighs over them, and lets one hand wander down to probe at Victor's hole.

It sinks in, ridiculously easy, and Yuuri groans under his breath as the memory of Victor fitting four fingers inside comes to mind. It makes him want to fill Victor up until there's no place for more, until he's impossibly full and sobbing under Yuuri's hands, but he shakes his head at the thought. Later, maybe.

Yuuri rubs the head of his cock against Victor's perineum, dragging a line up to the underside of his balls, and watches with satisfaction as Victor's breath stutters in anticipation, eyes fluttering closed as his body sags down, muscles relaxing.

Then Yuuri is rubbing against his hole, catching on the rim and teasing the pucker before slowly, oh so slowly sinking in. The wet heat that envelops his cock clenches deliciously tight around him, and Yuuri gasps at the feeling as he slowly works his way inside Victor. He makes sure to keep an unhurried pace despite his need, more concerned about making sure Victor feels no discomfort.

Yuuri carefully leans down until they're chest to chest as he fully sinks inside the omega, breath heavy against Victor's mouth, and their lips meet in a sweet kiss as Yuuri stills, waiting for Victor to give him a signal. Victor, of course, barely waits for their tongues to touch before he's shifting against Yuuri's hips, trying to push him deeper as his legs wrap tight around Yuuri's lower back.

Yuuri pulls half-way out, enjoying the slow drag of hot warm heat around him, and then thrusts back inside.

They soon sink into a rhythm, sweet and unhurried as they bask in the feeling of being together, exchanging sweet kisses and open mouthed pants against each other's mouths. Yuri loses himself in Victor's eyes, bright and blue and so full of tenderness that it takes Yuuri's breath away at times, and Victor easily pushes up his glasses whenever they slip down, giving Yuuri back the chance to watch Victor slowly come undone without the interference of blurry vision.

"You're so beautiful," Yuuri whispers, eyes hungrily roaming over Victor's face before settling back on the blues under his eyebrows, uncaring of how close together they are and how he has to cross his eyes slightly to properly look him in the eye. "I love you so much. So beautiful. All mine."

"I'm yours," Victor whispers back with a telling tightness on the corners of his eyes and the slow reddening of his whites, and Yuuri kisses his left eyebrow and breathes against his temple.

"And I'm yours," Yuuri says, hand squirming down their bodies to wrap around Victor's dick and start to lazily pump it. "So perfect, so wonderful. You're so good to me, Vitya. You're doing so well, always take me so well, you're amazing..."

Victor gasps as Yuuri keeps babbling nonsense against his forehead and then mouth, leg muscles tightening around Yuuri's lower back as the omega tries to push them impossibly closer, hold them together. Yuuri's lips travel all over the man's face, nuzzling him and dropping kisses between praises, and he slowly works his way down Victor's jaw and neck. The older man doesn't hesitate to bare his neck, giving Yuuri delicious expanses of milky skin already dotted with blossoming hickeys, and Yuuri makes a content growl on his throat and kisses a path down his neck and shoulders. Unhurried, he nibbles the skin over Victor's scent gland, humming at the feeling of Victor's fingers clawing at his shoulders and drinking in the music of Victor's gasps. Slowly, he starts to add more pressure to the bites, to Victor's obvious delight. He matches his bites and lapping at the erogenous zone with an increase in the pace of his hand, hips slapping deep into Victor, and changes his angle slightly when he brushes against the bundle of nerves that makes Victor cry out in pleasure. Surely enough, Victor is soon left a panting, moaning wreck, body trembling ever before he comes with a last, shuddering groan. Yuuri hums, kissing the scent glands one last time and enjoying the full body twitch it causes, and leans back to admire the sight of his husband completely wrecked, face red and body covered in sweat and come.

Yuuri sighs softly, using all his self-control to stop thrusting into Victor, and swirls the omega's seed around his stomach before pulling away his fingers and licking them clean. Victor, eyes half-closed and still looking blissed out, moans at the sight, and Yuuri smiles.

"You look beautiful," he blurts out, overtaken by feeling, and it's true. With his hair messy and his bangs splayed on the pillow and stuck to his forehead, teary-eyed and with a flush going all the way down to his shoulder, hickeys covering his skin, Victor looks breathtakingly beautiful. Even with the uncomfortable reminder of his own neglected member, Yuuri wishes he could save this moment forever. "Do you want me to pull out or...?"

Victor shakes his head, lounging boneless on the bed, and smiles up at Yuuri.

"I want to go soft while you're inside of me, I told you," Victor says, voice spent and soft in its scratchiness. "Keep going. You haven't come yet, have you?"

Yuuri frowns down at Victor, one thumb unconsciously drawing circles on his hip. 

"Are you sure, Victor?"

"Mm mmm," Victor nods, shifting his hips minutely and letting his legs drop down to his sides, body open and pliant and entirely relaxed, and Yuuri groans at the show of trust. Even Victor's face, soft and sated as he looks at him, is making it harder and harder for Yuuri to hold back, unconscious twitching aside. "Come in me, Yuuri. I want you to fill me."

Yuuri feels the last of his self-control fall down like a house of cards in the wind, giving in with a gasp as the words wash over him. Slowly, he starts to move his hips again, pushing in to the hilt and savoring the slide as he pushes out, Victor twitching and gasping under him, oversensitive.

Yuuri pants, swallowing at the delicious mix of friction and the way Victor's hole twitches and clenches around him. He rubs his hands against the omega's hips in a soothing gesture and manages to choke out at last a soft "is this fine?". Victor nods, hands clenching against the bed sheets as Yuuri accidentally brushes against the oversensitive bundle of nerves, a moan punched out of his lungs. Yuuri freezes and clenches his jaw tight just to avoid coming right then.

"Not there," Victor gasps, face teary-eyed and looking overwhelmed by the pain and pleasure, and Yuuri kisses a soft apology against his jaw and wet eyes as he shifts his hips.

The pleasure mounts, hips stuttering as the drag and pull and Victor's body under his and around him becomes too much, and it's not long before Yuuri is coming, climax punched out of him with a moan spoken against Victor's lips.

Victor hums, looking well sated and somewhat smug, and Yuuri smiles before kissing away the path of half-dried tears on his cheeks. He's sure his own expression echoes Victor's perfectly.

"Want me to pull out now?" Yuuri asks, amusement pinching at his lips as Victor's legs rise to wrap themselves around his hips.

"Not yet. I like you inside me," Victor says, shameless, and Yuuri chuckles and shifts his arms, wincing at the pang of soreness after leaning on them for so long.

"On our sides then, my arms are killing me," Yuuri murmurs, and Victor tightens his hold on Yuuri's hips possessively, humming as they carefully move on their sides, wrapped around each other as they are.

They doze off for a while like that, faces close together and breathing in each other's scent and breath, hopelessly mixed now, and when Yuuri finally pulls out Victor makes a small sound of discomfort before going back to clinging to Yuuri like a barnacle.

"I need to go get a wet towel to clean us up, Victor," Yuuri chuckles, kissing his husband's face as his hands lazily map the curves and dips of his body.

"Can do that later," Victor mumbles, pressing his face against Yuuri's neck, and he hums.

"Five minutes only. It's going to feel sticky and gross otherwise."

Victor hums back, grudgingly giving in, and wraps his limbs tighter around Yuuri. Shifting his legs, Yuuri feels one fall on a wet patch before he moves it away, and he makes a mental note to get the sheets changed too.

They do get cleaned up eventually, moving to the clean side of their oversized bed afterward, and Victor happily goes back to cuddling him. Yuuri gladly reciprocates.

The silence that settles over them is comfortable, intimate, and Yuuri basks in the feeling of Victor and Victor's warmth around him. It's sweet, quiet and tender, and his mind eventually wanders back to the man's upcoming heat and everything it implies.

"You know..." Yuuri says, rubbing a thumb against Victor's nape, and waits until the omega stirs next to him with a lazy sound. "We haven't talked yet about what'll happen during your heat."

"What'll happen?" Victor asks, voice sleepy, and Yuuri smiles a little at the sound.

"Yes. What's okay to do, what isn't... what you _want_ to do... that sort of thing. Drawing boundaries, since you might not be able to draw them while you're in heat."

Victor's silence stretches, heavy in the air, and Yuuri starts to feel new pinpricks of anxiety taking over. The thoughts swirl on his head, unbidden and unappreciated as they are, making him wonder if Victor changed his mind and is trying to find a way to gently turn him down.

He's about to apologize, pull away and go hide in the bathroom to calm himself down when Victor finally speaks up.

"I'd like... to have you close, as much as possible," Victor says, voice thoughtful, and Yuuri feels himself relaxing, smiling at the words. Not that different from Victor's needs outside of his heat, then. "I like it hard when I'm like that, so you can be as rough as you want. Rough and desperate. I like to beg."

Victor caresses Yuuri's side at the last sentence, soft and sensual, and Yuuri swallows, feeling the beginnings of arousal pool over his groin.

"O-oh?"

Victor smirks.

"I... hmm, when I'm in heat, I also really like to wake up to being filled, rocked, taken... it's exciting," Victor whispers, breath hot against Yuuri's skin, and he feels his breath stutter in his chest as his dick twitches in interest.

"A-are you sure?" Yuuri still asks, frowning, conflicted. Victor hums and squeezes his body, reassuring.

"If you want to, that is. It's okay if you don't."

"You'd like that?" Yuuri asks, wrapping a palm around Victor's nape, caressing the underside of his ear with a thumb.

"Yes. Very much so, yes," Victor breathes, trying to squirm impossibly closer to him, and Yuuri hums.

"I... think I'd like that too. You can feel free to wake me up like that too, Vitya," Yuuri whispers, and Victor's eyes flutter shut, face flustered and looking breathtakingly beautiful. "Something else you'd like to do? Or something you _don't_ want?"

"Hm... I'm not a fan of watersports?" Victor says, looking slightly sheepish, and Yuuri smiles. "I'm okay with other kinds of fluid play, though."

"Okay," Yuuri breathes, closing the distance between their faces and kissing Victor's mouth sweetly. "Let's talk about this again later?"

Victor hums, a smirk on his lips, and presses their mouths back together.

They get distracted for a while.

 

 

Their little "break" helps them go back to work with considerable less sexual frustration, at least for the first three days, and then they're too busy with last minute wedding and heat preparations to really have the time or energy for any fooling around.

The wedding comes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for y'all who might not be into the sex thing, you can stop around 'starts to change into something sweeter, deeper' and click the next chapter! This is a heat smutfest lmao sorry not sorry

While Yuuri remembers their first wedding as something full of anxiety and companionship layered by tentatively blossoming feelings and a cloud of things unsaid, the second wedding feels both as one of the most exciting and most torturous days of his life.

He's been filled in on the steps and procedures, of what will be said when and how, and Yuuri and Victor might've spent one evening or two repeating their vows to each other between laughter and kisses before drifting off to sleep. He's confident in himself in that sense, even if his anxiety keeps trying to convince him he's going to mess everything up, and he's relieved when the wedding does, in fact, go without a hitch. Yuuri enjoys holding his candle next to Victor, enjoys exchanging their rings and saying their vows, and he enjoys being crowned and sharing a cup of wine with his husband. He enjoys every moment of it, while also feeling like he's about to climb out of his skin.

Victor, smiling next to him and smelling like he's been bathed in scent-nullifying Salta for hours, doesn't look much better himself.

The ceremony feels both too short and excruciatingly long, his laughter genuine as he watches Yuri and a visiting noble from Maple Country start a game with spiteful competitiveness even as he feels his body and mind being pulled every way. Yuuri holds hands with Victor and tries to push down. The impulse to scent him in front of everyone.

After the festivities are done and they've been escorted to the carriage for some touring around the city, Victor finally slumps his body against Yuuri's with a sigh. They lean on each other, Yuuri scenting Victor's wrists and neck without needing to be told, and Victor relaxes further against him and turns into putty in his hands. Yuuri smiles as the man hums in contentment.

"Are you okay?" Yuuri asks, soft enough that only their proximity makes him be heard over the clatter of the horses pulling the carriage.

Victor nods, humming and closing his own eyes, and practically nuzzles Yuuri's chest.

"A little tired. I'm on heat stoppers."

"Oh. Is that...?"

"Mm? It's normal here, don't worry. We couldn't risk having me go in heat in the middle of the ceremony now, could we?" Victor says, a teasing tone in his voice, and Yuuri chuckles even as he tries not to imagine such a scenario. "It happens sometimes, you know... among the poorer folk. It's why we call churches _God's gift givers_ sometimes."

"I see," Yuuri huffs in Victor's hair, both amused and somewhat flustered by the topic. It sounds completely  _indecent,_ after everything Yuuri has even known about decorum growing up, but also embarrassingly exciting in the dirtiest of ways. "Would you have liked that? Going in heat during the middle of our crowning, Vitya?"

Victor groans and hides his face in Yuuri's chest, breathing in deeply.

"A side effect of heat stoppers is that I get completely dry and can't get it up, _Yuuri_ ," Victor complains, dragging out his name. "Can we have this conversation later? Tonight, maybe? Or after my heat... Can't think while I'm in heat."

"Sure, Victor," Yuuri chuckles, kissing the top of Victor's head and taking the opportunity to wrap his palm around Victor's nape, caressing the skin with his thumb before moving to scent whatever inch of skin he has nearby. Victor cuddles closer, purring in delight and enjoying his time to be scented, drowsiness making him doze off in Yuuri's chest. 

By the time the carriage stops and they're supposed to go outside and be seen they at least smell  _right_ again. Victor's smell is still somewhat muffled, faded, but standing at his side and with both of their scents on his skin it feels close enough to make Yuuri feel settled. Victor seems to wake from his drug-induced drowsiness to happily explain the history behind whatever landmark they're observing at the time, adding a hilarious story or two about some noble's misadventures around these streets at times.

Yuuri laughs and smiles, content and ignoring for the time being the way his body feels attuned to Victor's every touch, and watches the omega's face break in a heart-shaped smile and shine like a sun of his own.

 

 

Victor's heat breaks on the way back home. Yuuri holds him close as the omega gets clingier, burying his face in Yuuri's clothes and holding on for dear life. It's not long until Victor breaks into a fevered sweat, the omega whimpering in pain and discomfort, and Yuuri wipes it away with a sleeve and softly kisses his forehead. He does his best to massage Victor's aching muscles while Victor keeps clinging to him, desperate and uncomfortable and soothed only by Yuuri's scent and touch and voice.

Yuuri isn't as familiar with this part of heat as he is with the others, but he still knows enough to keep a calm, tender tone in his voice as he praises and soothes his husband during his heat fever. They both know it'll lead soon to a heat daze, but it doesn't make the wait any less nerve-wracking, Yuuri worrying about messing up during this delicate part of the heat and accidentally driving Victor into heat illness. It's why he made sure to learn as much as he could about the early heat process during the months leading to the wedding, and it's why he knows that words of praise from a mate or someone close to them are supposed to tether omegas better. The way Victor stays glued to his side, quiet and mostly calm despite the terrible pain he must be in seems to be proof enough.

Still, Yuuri wastes no minute to walk out of the carriage as soon as they're at the palace, taking Victor in his arms after the man's legs give up under him and carrying him the rest of the rest of the way to their rooms.

Victor clings close, face tucked in his neck and breathing heavily as his scent starts to change into something sweeter, deeper. The omega relaxes in his arms, the tension of pained muscles giving away, and Yuuri feels himself relaxing in turn as he breathes in the scent, concern and anxiety melting away in favor of the first inklings of lust forming in his lower gut.

He kisses Victor's head, humming when the man starts to mouth at his scent gland, encouraging the skin to produce more of his scent and making Victor growl softly in appreciation. The doors close behind them the moment they pass through, guards shifting the wood and magic locking it safe for the duration of the heat. Yuuri pays no mind to any of it, more concerned with getting Victor in bed and help him transition into the pleasurable part of his heat through soft touches and kisses.

Victor, however, seems to get there on his own before they even reach the bed, tugging at Yuuri's clothes and sinking his teeth into his neck. Yuuri yelps, a mix of pain and arousal zipping through his body, and Victor makes a sound of pleasure as he breathes in the alpha's scent.

"Fuck me," Victor says, voice husky, nails caressing a pathup Yuuri's collar to his bare ear and scratching at the sensitive skin. "Fuck me alpha."

"That's not my name, Vitya," Yuuri says, voice rough as he practically sprints the rest of the way to their bedchamber and their new home for the next several days.

"Yuuri," Victor whines, biting hickeys on Yuuri's jaw, and then yelps as Yuuri practically throws them both into the bed.

Confusion quickly leads to eager whimpering, Victor tugging at his clothes and frowning when they refuse to come off, a whine on his throat. Yuuri quickly realizes that Victor looks too debilitated to rip anything off of Yuuri despite his best attempts, and he hesitates for a second. Victor should rest, maybe drink something energizing first and recuperate...

"Yuuri, fuck me, _please_ ," Victor sobs, letting out a wave of pheromones in his distress so strong Yuuri staggers.

Then, the hesitation clears. Victor wants to be fucked. No, Victor _needs_ to be fucked.

Victor is his husband, his mate, _his_ , and he's begging to have Yuuri balls deep inside him, to be taken care of.

Yuuri makes a deep, growling sound in his throat, and helps Victor undress as the man calms down, moaning and going limp before helpfully raising his arms.

Victor is soon naked, wedding clothes accounting for these sort of things, panting and writhing in his heat daze, and Yuuri takes a moment to enjoy the view despite his own need to fuck him into the mattress. Then he takes Victor in his mouth, enjoying the cry of pleasure and the way the omega's hips instinctively thrust in, and sucks an orgasm out of the man with barely a few bobs of his head.

"Yuuri," Victor whines, voice high and needy as he squirms, body pliant and surely still sore, and Yuuri kisses his inner thigh and thrusts a finger into his soaking hole.

"Victor," another kiss, "Vitya."

Victor's body opens to him easily, eagerly sucking in his finger, and Yuuri's mouth goes dry as he watches the omega's hole taking in finger after finger in half the time it normally would. The rim, red and puffy, wraps around his fingers like it's craving his dick, and Yuuri groans. He takes out his fingers and moves to kiss it, once, before he's pushing himself up to his knees and inside Victor in a question of seconds. Victor moans at the intrusion, body arching beautifully and looking already more energized, and Yuuri grabs him down by the shoulders and starts to fuck into him.

Victor's voice is wonderful, half-punched moans escaping him with every thrust as his hands grasp at the sheets, eyes filling with tears as he bares his neck in pleasure. Yuuri drinks it all in as he keeps him pinned to the bed, working his hips to ram double as hard into Victor's ass. His orgasm is quickly approaching, Victor's hormones well into driving him into a faux rut with every second longer he passes balls deep into the omega, and Yuuri grunts. His natural stamina is keeping him afloat for now, but he knows it won't hold on for much longer.

He sinks down, pace lost for a second as he rearranges his limbs. and then he's thrusting in with renewed vigor as he nuzzles against Victor's neck.

Victor makes an eager, desperate sound as Yuuri licks a stripe up his neck, that makes nothing but spur him to fuck him faster. Yuuri lets himself enjoy the way Victor's body is being rocked by his cock, heartbeat fluttering on Yuuri's tongue and under his touch, and then he bites down where shoulder meets neck. Victor cries, body tensing as he comes against their stomachs, and whimpers as Yuuri keeps his brutal pace for a few thrusts more before burying his cock into Victor's ass as he comes.

Panting, Yuuri slowly feels himself come down from the high of release, if not the sex haze, and lazily shifts his hips with a hum. Victor pants under him, half-squished under Yuuri's weight but far too gone to mind, and Yuuri leaves a trail of kisses and bites up his neck as he leans on his arms and tries to not suffocate his mate with his weight.

"You're lovely, so lovely like this," Yuuri whispers, kissing Victor's cheek and drinking in the flushed and glassy-eyed expression on his husband's face, unfocused. "What a good omega you are, Vitya."

Victor hums, looking away from the ceiling on their bed and into Yuuri's eyes, and Yuuri's eyelids drop at the expression on the omega's face.

"Or do you want to be a bad boy?" He asks, slowly dragging his hardening length out of Victor. "Want me to call you a slut, Vitya?" Yuuri underlines the word with a deep thrust, and the man moans.

"Yes," Victor breathes, hands climbing up Yuuri's arms and sides to cling against his shoulders.

"Hmm mm, what a cockslut we have here," Yuuri says conversationally, keeping his pace slow and his thrusts hard and deep. "You like that, being stretched open by my cock? Being fucked raw like the slut you are?"

"Yes, yes," Victor rasps, vocabulary being quickly fucked out of him. "I'm your slut, I'm yours."

"You are. You're _mine_ , my little whore to take as much as I want to, just opening your legs and sinking into your hole like the horny bitch you are," Yuuri purrs, forehead resting against Victor's and drinking in every expression, every moan punched out of the omega's mouth as he buries his cock in him. "Want me to fuck you full of my cum, Vitya? Fill you up like the little omega cumbucket you are?"

Victor moans, nails sinking into Yuuri's shoulders and trembling legs trying to wrap against his hips. Yuuri kisses his cheek, tender where his hips are unforgiving, and then sinks against his mouth, Victor welcoming him enthusiastically. They pant against each other's mouth, breaking off the kiss as Victor keens at one of Yuuri's thrusts, and Yuuri drunkenly wonders about Victor's beauty, undone and flushed and wonderfully real, shining.

"I'm going to fuck your heat out of you," Yuuri says, "and then I'm going to keep fucking you until I'm finished." A hand goes down to jerk Victor's abandoned cock in rhythm to his thrusts, and Victor moans loudly. "I'm going to cover your entire body in my cum until you smell so taken everyone in the city can smell you, and then I'll do it again. Would you like that, Vitya? Fucking you dry and covering you in my cum?"

" _Yuuri_ ," Victor keens, half-delirious, trying to take Yuuri's cock deeper into him and looking absolutely debauched. Yuuri drinks it in with a groan, feeling his dick throb at the sight.

"Come for me, Vitya," he whispers, snapping his hips until he's buried to the hilt in Victor's ass, thumbing the head of Victor's cock as he twists his hand.

Victor moans, cum shooting out of him and splattering against their stomachs and Victor's chest, and Yuuri bites the inside of his cheek and wrestles his body to not come yet.

"God, Vitya, you're so gorgeous," he pants, watching Victor's blissed out expression and the way his flushed skin brings out the blue of his glassy eyes. "What a good omega for me, what a gorgeous cockslut you are."

" _Yuuri_ ," Victor groans weakly, sounding half-drugged on his heat daze. "Come in me, fuck me. I want you. _More_."

Yuuri breathes out harshly as Victor moves his hips, trying to impale himself deeper in Yuuri's cock, and he shushes softly the whines of displeasure that are born when Yuuri doesn't start moving immediately.

Then he pushes out and slams back in without hesitation. Victor groans as Yuuri sets a fast, rough pace, fucking him into the mattress and dragging him back down with him when they get too close to the header. He fucks him in silence, breathing harshly as Victor moans loudly and his dick starts to fill again, pressing against Yuuri's stomach with every thrust. Yuuri drinks in the moans and cries Victor makes as he sits up and keeps slamming into the omega's wet hole, one hand going to roughly jack off Victor's cock as the other pins down his hips. 

Victor doesn't cum as much on his fourth orgasm, but Yuuri still makes sure to get as much as possible on his fingers before smearing some on Victor's lips in warning. He shoves two fingers in the omega's mouth, groaning as Victor eagerly sucks on them while still lost on his high, and goes down to roughly kiss and lick at his lips as he snaps his hips one, two, three times, coming inside his husband with a moan.

Yuuri pants against Victor's lips, pushing their foreheads together as they look into each other's eyes, and Yuuri breathes out as he sees the omega's eyes clearing up somewhat. He probably can still fuck an orgasm or two out of Victor before the man's heat wave is sated, but first, he lets himself take a deep breath of Victor's scent as he slowly and lazily thrusts into Victor's sensitive walls. Yuuri isn't sure if his body is ready to make a knot yet, faux rut not as intense as some of the natural ones he's had before, but Victor sure seems open and ready enough to take one. The man is soaking wet from the thighs up and Yuuri himself, with his cock half-buried inside Victor and enjoying the way his pubic hair presses against Victor's ass when he thrusts in, is in no much better condition. Victor doesn't seem to mind, humming and wiggling his hips as he encourages Yuuri's half-hard attempts at giving him pleasure, and Yuuri buries his face in Victor's neck and peppers it with kisses and soft bites. Victor's heat scent is enough to get Yuuri back up for another round in half the time it would've taken otherwise, and Yuuri feels the faux rut strengthening its hold on Yuuri with every whiff of pheromones he breathes in. Victor himself seems to be recuperating too, arms and legs wrapping around Yuuri and trying to cling to him while doing his best to fuck himself on Yuuri's cock. Yuuri groans, his sore arms more than happy with the idea, and sits up with Victor still clinging to him.

"Is it okay if I lie down?" Yuuri breathes against Victor's ear, hands on the omega's hips and over his ass as the man sinks down Yuuri's length. "Think you can ride me good, Vitya? Be a good omega for me and ride my dick?"

"Y-yes," Victor pants, letting go of Yuuri's shoulders as the alpha lies down and tries to stretch his legs as fast as possible without displacing Victor from his perch.

Once comfortable, he squeezes Victor's hips in a silent signal, and stutters out a groan as Victor lifts himself up until only the head of Yuuri's cock connects them before slamming himself back down. Victor sets a demanding pace, bouncing on Yuuri's dick with abandon, and Yuuri massages the omega's thighs and drinks in the lewd picture he makes. Victor grins down at him, shifting in his seat on Yuuri's dick to change the angle, and then impales himself to the hilt, moaning loudly and ripping a cry out of Yuuri's throat as the man clenches around him. Victor keeps making lewd noises as he sets a new pace, body determined, and Yuuri watches mesmerized as Victor uses his cock for what can only be rubbing the bundle of nerves inside him.

He's almost surprised when he starts to feel the telltale tightening and swelling of his anatomy, and tightens his grip on Victor's hips.

"I'm going to-" Yuuri groans, swallowing hard. "Vitya, do you want me to knot you? Tie you to me with my fat knot like the good slut  you are?"

Victor moans, picking up his pace and slamming himself on Yuuri's dick while gasping a litany of "Yes, yes, knot me"s. Yuuri gasps at the sensation and starts to thrust up into Victor, tightening his grip on the omega's hips as he meets Victor's thrusts in an erratic frenzy.

The knot swells fast inside Victor, catching on the rim before sinking deep and locking them together, and Yuuri groans as his orgasm is punched out of him. Victor keens, back arching and nails sinking on Yuuri's thighs as he comes, asshole stretched impossibly and deliciously tight around Yuuri's cock.

Yuuri hums at the sight of Victor, sweaty and panting over him as he slowly comes down from his high, and carefully sits up to wrap his husband in his arms.

"What a good omega you are, Vitya, taking my knot so well. You're wonderful," Yuuri whispers on Victor's ear, kissing his cheek. "You look breathtaking like this." He nuzzles his hair, softly scenting him, and Victor hums in contentment and slumps against him, sated for the time being.

Yuuri carefully lies them back down, trying not to tug at the knot tying them together, and softly shushes and kisses Victor's face when he accidentally pulls at Victor's walls, making him whine.

Once comfortable, Yuuri takes no time to wash Victor in affection, kissing his face and forehead as he gently rubs his wrists over the man's sides and back. Victor purrs at the scenting, nuzzling against Yuuri's face and peppering it with sweet kisses.

"We should sleep until your next wave starts. Do you want some water?" Yuuri asks, voice soft as Victor kisses down his jaw before burying his face in the alpha's neck, pressing against his scent glands with his nose.

"No. Don't want to move," Victor slurs, the last of his heat daze dissipating as he breathes in Yuuri's scent with every word. "I don't want you to go anywhere. Stay."

Yuuri hums, hugging Victor's body close and breathing in his scent as he buries his nose in soft, silver hair. Victor breathes out against his neck, contented as he snuggles closer, and Yuuri smiles.

"You'll have to drink later then, Victor. I'll wake you up when my know goes down, okay?" Yuuri says, playing with the strands of Victor's short hair and long bangs, and the omega stirs.

"And you'll give me another one?"

"Maybe," Yuuri smiles, trying not to chuckle at Victor's impatience. "We'll see what your heat and body have to say about that."

Victor grumbles, answer apparently unsatisfactory, and shifts his hips. Yuuri gasps at the feeling, but Victor only hums, sleepy and satisfied of being filled.

"At least I have you now."

"You have me always," Yuuri whispers, kissing Victor's hair and feeling the man's body relax over him, asleep in the wink of an eye.

Yuuri smiles and listens to Victor's breathing.

 

 

Yuuri does eventually manage to persuade Victor into drinking, the omega so sleepy between waves he just does as told before drifting back to sleep, and Yuuri watches him sleep for a while longer before going to sleep himself. The first wave is only supposed to be the beginning of a week-long process, after all, and Yuuri knows better than to spend his down time lost in thought and in Victor's everything instead of taking advantage of the break.

Once the next wave starts, there won't be much rest for Yuuri to have, and the first wave is supposed to be one of the shortest ones.

Indeed, it's not much later that he wakes up from his nap, roused by Victor's voice. He opens his eyes to the sight of a still sleeping Victor, hard and grinding on the sheets in his sleep. Yuuri takes a whiff of Victor's scent, heavy with the musk of slick, and finds himself growing hard with a barely bitten off groan. Yuuri goes to shake Victor awake, eager to take care of the omega's need, when a memory comes to mind. And well...

Yuuri hums lowly, hand caressing a path down Victor's back, and his eyes drink in the way the omega shudders and leans into the touch in his sleep. He stops on Victor's ass, letting his hand rest there as he feels Victor grind against and hump the covers fruitlessly. Slowly, he moves his hand until his fingers are circling around Victor's hole, drinking in the soft and needy sounds the omega makes in his sleep, and finally pushes a finger inside. Victor sighs, hips changing course to thrust against the finger, and Yuuri's mouth goes dry.

"Victor?" He asks in a hush, unable to believe that Victor's body could be doing this without the omega's input.

Victor doesn't stir or answer to his voice and Yuuri pushes in a second finger, swallowing at the way it's sucked in along with the first one, Victor's hole still loose and sloppy with slick and cum.

Painfully hard already, Yuuri slowly rises to his knees, moving until he's leaning over Victor even as he keeps thrusting his fingers into the omega's hungry hole, adding a third and fourth one in a rush. Victor takes it all, his body receptive and eager to be filled, and Yuuri stutters out a breath as he takes out his fingers and lines himself up. Victor makes a sleepy sound of displeasure at the emptiness, squirming and turning in his sleep, and Yuuri kisses him in the neck and patiently moves the omega back into the right position.

Heats are exhausting, energy being consumed past the body's limits in a frenzy to breed, and sometimes omegas will sleep through a wave after being thoroughly tired out. Yuuri has heard stories, omegas that went into heat still asleep or slept up to an entire day away while their bodies tried to reach climax after climax, and the idea of Victor sleeping while Yuuri fucks his heat wave out of him makes him feel short of breath. Instinct tells him to pound into Victor's warm body and _take_ until he fucks the heat away, faux rut full in action, but Yuuri bites down the urge. Instead, he pushes slowly into Victor's wet hole, and stills once he bottoms out.

He groans.

"Victor?" Yuuri whispers, caressing the man's cheek with a finger. Victor's face stays lax, cheeks rosy and lips half-open as he slumbers on, and Yuuri kisses his shoulder before starting to move. "Vitya..."

He starts slow, savoring every reaction of Victor's body as he thrusts into the sleeping man, but soon finds himself picking up the pace, skin slapping against skin and wet noises indecent as he pounds into Victor. Yuuri drinks in the lewd sounds of their fucking, the soft moans that spill from Victor's mouth even as the omega stays asleep, and soon finds himself feeling a restless sort of need. Leaning down, he bites and nibbles a path from Victor's shoulders to his neck as one of his hands sneak in between Victor's body and the bedding, grabbing Victor's dick and roughly pumping it as he sinks his teeth into the omega's scent gland. Victor comes with a whimper, leaving Yuuri's hand slick as he gives the cock a last pump before he pulls away, and he enjoys the delicious squeeze of Victor's ass around his dick and keeps his hard pace.

Victor's body sways with each of Yuuri's thrusts, pliant and open in his sleep, greedy and horny in his heat daze, and Yuuri finds himself slowing down until he's languidly pushing into Victor's hole. The slide is smooth, deliciously warm as Victor's body wraps snugly around his dick, perfect. Yuuri savors the sensation as he grinds his hips down against Victor's ass and groans against his back. He nuzzles the omega's neck, nipping and tonguing the skin over the scent gland as he breathes in their mixed scents and the musk of sex, feeling the intoxicating mix cloud his mind further. Yuuri sits back on his haunches to admire the full picture of his husband, sleeping through his heat wave while Yuuri is balls deep inside him. A hand caresses a path down the man's back, splaying across his ass, and Yuuri groans at the sight of Victor's hole greedily sucking him in. His eyes stay fixed on the sight as he gives a couple of experimental thrusts, changing his angle minutely, fascinated.

"Your hole is so hungry for my cock, Vitya," Yuuri whispers, unwilling to wake up the man at the moment. "Taking me so readily even in your sleep. Should I just start doing this every night? Fuck you full of my come while you sleep even after your heat is over?" He swallows at the mental image and makes his next thrust hit hard. "You look so beautiful like this, gods..."

Victor doesn't answer, breathing calming down and become deep once again now that Yuuri isn't pounding into him, and Yuuri hums and pulls almost all the way out. He slams back inside, hard and fast, and Victor still barely reacts as his body is jostled, nothing but a soft moan coming from his lips. Yuuri leans down, biting along the omega's shoulder and darkening the bruises he already left there. Then he straightens up again, pinning the man down by the hips, and starts pounding into Victor in a punishing pace. Victor's body bounces, pushed by Yuuri's cock, and he moans at the sight the omega makes being fucked open by his dick like this, relaxed and pliant in his sleep.

Yuuri changes the angle again, pistoning into Victor, and gasps as Victor moans out loud, his hole clenching as Yuuri finally rubs against his prostate. Breathing through the pleasure, he puts his mind to press against that bundle of nerves as much as possible, fucking into Victor with abandon and drinking in every moan and twitch of the man under him.

Victor's moans change, a sleepy, dazzled sound coming out of his throat as he wakes, and Yuuri slows down, fucking leisurely into Victor.

"Mm... Alpha?"

Yuuri stops and skins his nails in Victor's ass in punishment.

"Bad, Vitya," he whispers in his ear, ignoring the needy whimpers that start as soon as the omega realizes what is happening, what just stopped happening. "Is that all I am to you, just an alpha to fuck you good?"

Yuuri underlines his words with a thrust of his hips, hard and merciless and straight against Victor's prostate, and Victor cries out as his hands fist the bed sheets, back curling taut.

" _Yuuri_ ," Victor moans, pressing his ass back against Yuuri and trying to fuck himself on the alpha's cock, _begging_. "Yuuuuu-ri."

"That's it, Vitya. Good boy," Yuuri matches his praises with a thrust, then two, and lets his hands wander until they're covering Victor's fists, pushing them down as he leans over the man and leisurely fucks into him. "Can you keep being a good boy for me, a good omega? You came so nicely while I fucked you in your sleep before. Come for me again, love."

Victor makes a choked off noise, slumping against the bed as his hole tightens deliciously around Yuuri's cock in his climax, and Yuuri hums approvingly.

"That's it. You're perfect, sweetheart. Lyubov moya."

Victor whimpers, soft and needy, as Yuuri peppers his back and neck with kisses and sweet nothings in a mix of the omega's mother tongue, the common language and his own, thumbs caressing the skin of Victor's fists.

"Yuuri," Victor sighs, turning his face and rolling his hips as Yuuri keeps his lazy pace. Yuuri looks up, making eye contact with a blue eye, and smiles softly at the omega. "Can you- I want to look at you, Yuuri, please."

"Anything, Vitya," Yuuri murmurs into Victor's back, giving the constellation of freckles a last kiss, and gets on his knees to help Victor turn around. His hips shift to pull out when a hand wraps around his wrist.

"Don't. Don't leave me, Yuuri," Victor says, eyes glassy as he tries to flush his backside to Yuuri's pelvis. His voice is low, tone sounding almost scared, and Yuuri blinks before understanding sinks in.

"It might feel a little weird, Victor. Are you sure you want to do it like this?" At Victor's nod, Yuuri hums, low and comforting. He grasps one of Victor's legs, taking the moment to bend and kiss the skin, and goes on to carefully try to turn him around without pulling them apart.

It's uncomfortable and unnecessarily complicated with Victor lying still on the bed, overtaken by his instincts. In the end, Yuuri has to coach the man on his knees before they can get anywhere close to the mark.

By the time Victor is finally lying on his back, Yuuri somehow having managed to stay inside and not upset the omega in heat, he can't but break into giggles as he thinks of the ridiculous gymnastics they just had to do.

Victor hums, glassy-eyed and smiling like there's nothing that pleases him more than to see Yuuri happy, _his alpha_ happy, and Yuuri kisses his mouth and feels a similar smile pull at his lips.

Going back to moving inside Victor feels like heaven, slick and hot as his dick sinks deep, and Yuuri savors the wet slide and push as he kisses Victor deeply, tongues meeting and exploring each other. He shifts his hips, finding Victor's prostate again, and enjoys Victor's shiver of pleasure as he brushes against it. The omega is soon left panting and trembling under him, and Yuuri wraps a hand around him and jerks him off until the man comes. The tightening of his walls feels amazing around Yuuri's cock, and he moans.

"Yuuri... Knot..." Victor pants, arms wrapped around Yuuri's back in a loose hug as he scents him, and Yuuri hums.

"I still haven't come inside you during this wave, have I? You'll smell so good full of my cum," Yuuri hums, caressing Victor's stomach, and nuzzles his neck at the gasp of pleasure Victor makes. "I'll need to come once before I knot you, though. What do you want, Vitya, for me to come inside of you or out?"

He caresses Victor's lips with a finger, watching the man's pupils dilate, Victor's hips meeting Yuuri's thrusts halfway.

"Inside, but..." Victor trails off, smirk mischievous as he moves his hand to tap at his own lips, and Yuuri's attention zeroes on the gesture when one finger is sucked inside Victor's mouth. Pink lips wrap deliciously around the digit, and Victor moans as Yuuri's hips twitch in their pace, thrusting harder than intended.The finger comes out, shiny with spit as it rests coyly on Victor's lips, and his throat goes dry.

Yuuri crashes his mouth against Victor's, licking at the finger before he licks inside the omega's mouth, hungry and already imagining the taste of his cum in the man's mouth. Victor moans, grasping his hair as Yuuri fastens the pace of his thrusts until he's jackrabbiting into Victor's hole, and Yuuri groans at the tug. He wraps a hand around Victor's dick, pumping it until the man is coming again, and then smears the cum across the omega's chest and neck. His thumb presses against Victor's scent gland, rubbing the come into the skin there, and Victor sighs and whimpers. Yuuri kisses him, one last time, and then he's pulling out of Victor's hole, ignoring the way both of their bodies seem reluctant to separate. Victor leans up on his elbows, face hungry and pupils blown, and Yuuri quickly gets some of the pillows lying haphazardly on their bed and stacks them until Victor is leaning comfortably against them. Victor hums, looking content and cozy, and Yuuri feels himself preen, the feeling of taking care of his beloved a heady thing.

Victor paws at Yuuri's hips, eyes focused downwards, and Yuuri follows his gaze and stops.

"Oh, do you want- I can clean myself up first," he says, staring awkwardly at his slick-covered thighs and hips, cock shiny with the omega's scent-soaked slick.

Victor makes a sound of protests, as if the idea personally insults him, and paws at his hips again until Yuuri gets the memo and shuffles closer. Then Victor is burying his face on Yuuri's hip, mouth tantalizingly close to his cock, and Yuuri's breath hitches at the sight.

"No, I like you like this," Victor murmurs, breathing in against his skin and sighing. "You smell like me now. Mine."

"I'm yours, Victor," Yuuri says softly, caressing Victor's bangs away. "I'm always yours."

Victor makes a pleased hum and then drags Yuuri by the hips until he's kneeling in front of the pillow pile. Yuuri chuckles as the omega lets go of him to sink against the pillows with a sigh, and he swallows when Victor looks up through half-lidded eyes, omega scent irresistible, and softly says 'come here'.

Yuuri goes, more than happy to follow a Victor looking at him with that expression, and moans as Victor takes him into his mouth without hesitation. Yuuri's hands quickly move to Victor's short hair, twisting and pulling the longer bangs the way he knows Victor likes it, even if he keeps complaining about going bald faster during his bouts of insecurity.

Victor sucks and bobs his head, tonguing Yuuri's slit and playfully pulling away the second Yuuri makes an encouraging sound, until Yuuri is groaning in aggravation. He fists the fringe that usually covers Victor's left eye, wrapping his other hand around the man's skull, and uses it as leverage as he fucks into Victor's head. Victor moans in appreciation, eagerly opening his mouth wider and kissing Yuuri's tip when he pulls out, and continues moaning as Yuuri fucks his mouth for all its worth, slowly working his way deeper and deeper.

Yuuri groans, the feeling of Victor's mouth and tongue almost as exciting as knowing that he's basically using the omega as a sex toy and the man is loving every second of it. His hips jerk as Victor tongues a particularly sensitive vein of his cock, pushing in too deep, and the man chokes. Yuuri startles, releasing Victor's hair and moving to pull out, but before Yuuri can even apologize the omega grabs at his hips and pulls him back in. Victor moans, kneading Yuuri's ass while trying to bury his cock deeper into his mouth, and looks up at him with an expression that screams both reassurance and _hunger_.

Yuuri's breath stutters in a sigh, caressing Victor's fringe away from his face and rubbing at his cheek with a thumb as Victor sucks him.

"Remember to pinch my thigh if it becomes too much, okay Vitya?" Yuuri whispers, watching how Victor closes his eyes and leans into the touch, the glint in them somewhere between consciousness and heat daze. "Can you do that for me, be good for me?"

Victor nods, looking up at him with eyes now entirely glazed over, and Yuuri caresses down his jaw and past his ear until his hand is resting on the back of Victor's head, slowly pushing deeper until his cock touches the back of the man's throat. Victor hums, closing his eyes as they water, swallowing and shifting his head until Yuuri can go deeper. Victor's nose nuzzles his pubes once he bottoms out, eyes locked with Yuuri's, and he whispers breathless words of praise and awe as he slowly pulls out.

The pace starts slow, tentative with Yuuri's caution, but soon Victor starts fucking his mouth on Yuuri's cock, impatient and needy. Yuuri growls, feeling what self-control he had left slipping from his fingers at Victor's muffled moans, and grabs him by the fringe before thrusting in as hard as he can. Victor makes choked off noises, mixed with moans and sounds of delight as he takes it all with gusto, hands pawing at Yuuri's hips and resting on his ass like he enjoys knowing every movement of Yuuri's body as he fucks him. His face is tear-stained and blotchy by the time Yuuri comes inside his mouth, swallowing every drop even as he slumps down on the pillows as soon as Yuuri let's go of his hair. Yuuri follows him, dropping next to him, and cuddles close.

"You did so well, Vitya," he murmurs, kissing Victor's forehead and scenting his chest and shoulders with a wrist. He touches the omega's throat with the pads of his fingers, still awed by how deep he'd taken him, and gently scents him there too. "My good, wonderful omega. You looked so beautiful with my cock in your mouth, love."

Victor purrs, wiggling until he's on his side and throwing his limbs around Yuuri as best as he can, and Yuuri happily cuddles him back, making sure to keep his touches soft and loving while Victor recuperates from the intense experience.

"Think you could drink some water, Vitya?" Yuuri asks, voice soft. The man's heat should be satisfied after Yuuri knots him, with how Victor's cock stands stiff with the fact that he didn't come during their recent round, but he'd prefer to at least get some water in Victor before he falls asleep again.

"Your cum is enough..." Victor mumbles against his shoulder, loose-limbed and clingy, and Yuuri feels his cheeks heat up despite the fact that he just fucked the man's face not five minutes ago.

"Uh, still. Please, for me?" Yuuri moves, shifting them until he's lying over Victor, and stretches a hand towards the bedside table, sighing when the bottles full of water stay just out of his reach, fingertips uselessly gracing the crystal.

Instead of pulling away from Victor, who seems to already cling extra hard to overcompensate for any future attempts of pulling apart, he grabs Victor by the sides and braces his knees, sliding him up until he's sitting on the bed with Yuuri on his lap. Then he starts wiggling forwards, walking on his knees and dragging Victor with him. It makes him think of those funny, flightless birds Victor had described him in detail one time, and he huffs in amusement. Victor chuckles, clinging to Yuuri and burying his head in his chest while the alpha makes a fool of himself. It's still worth it when Yuuri finally manages to grab the bottle, giving out a little shout of success.

Then Victor scrunches his nose at it.

"I like your taste more," he pouts, mouthing at Yuuri's chest, and Yuuri sits down on Victor's lap with a sigh. The omega seems instantly more interested.

"Drink a little for me, Victor," Yuuri says, nuzzling their foreheads together and looking into the man's eyes. Mostly cleared up now, so it's just Victor acting like a stubborn child. "You can always have another taste later."

Victor swallows, eyes turning hungry and thoughtful, but he still scrunches his nose at the water in distaste.

Yuuri sighs again and opens the bottle. He takes a few gulps of the water, making sure there's still plenty left in his mouth, and then brings Victor into a kiss. It's messy and most of the water drips down their jaws and on their laps and the bed, but Victor still ends up swallowing some of it, eyes big and pupils dilated when he pulls away.

"Think you can drink the rest alone, Vitya?" Yuuri teases, smirking at the man's gobsmacked expression. "Or do you want me to keep feeding you like a baby bird?"

Victor makes a face, like he doesn't know whether to be insulted or eager or disgruntled, and Yuuri chuckles as the omega takes the bottle and drinks without any other complains.

Once the bottle is significantly emptier, Victor finding his thirst somewhere between the second and fifth sip of water, they settle down to trade kisses and touches as they lazily rock against each other. Yuuri can feel an undercurrent of urgency in Victor's movements still, a tension under his skin, and it's not long until the man is making soft noises against him.

"Empty..." Victor groans in his mouth, and Yuuri kisses his lips one last time before he's climbing off the omega's lap and sitting on the bed. He leans back on a pile of pillows that managed to survive their frantic love-making, and pats his thigh.

Victor moves without a second of hesitation, settling on his lap and going back to kissing him hungrily, slick dripping down Victor's ass as he grinds down against Yuuri's dick. Yuuri groans, squeezing Victor's butt cheeks before sinking three fingers inside him, feeling his cock twitch when they slide into Victor's loose hole without resistance. Victor hums, bouncing on Yuuri's fingers as he bites down on his neck, nibbling on the scent glands, and whines when Yuuri quickly takes them out.

Yuuri feels Victor's hips shake from side to side, voice going high in a sharp whine as he clings to Yuuri's shoulders, needy, wanton. He swallows, quickly working his dripping hand around his cock until he's covered in slick, and then puts it in position for an easy slide. Victor doesn't seem to notice, still whining and shaking his ass, and Yuuri touches his side with his free hand and whispers "Lower, Vitya."

Victor obediently follows, moving down his hips until the tip of Yuuri's cock brushes against his cheeks, and then he's clinging to Yuuri's shoulders as they work on slotting their bodies back together. The head catches, sinking into Victor's hungry hole with a wet sound, and the omega sighs with his entire body, muscles relaxing against Yuuri as he sinks down to the root.

Yuuri grasps the man's hips as Victor starts to move, the omega moaning against his ear in encouragement and rubbing their chests together, and Yuuri answers with encouraging groans of his own.

They rock together, shifting their hips as Victor bounces on his cock, wet smacks and soft moans filling the room. It's not long before Yuuri is fisting Victor's cock, thumbing at the slit as he mouths at Victor's neck. It's this, being close together, feeling each centimeter of each other's bodies against their skin, heartbeats thrumming in their chests until they're fusing together, that leaves Yuuri breathless and hot. It's them, belonging to each other, limbs intertwined, connected, in sync.

They take their time, Victor's heat daze mostly past, the omega more than happy with earning his knot by slowly undoing Yuuri until he's left naked to the core, raw. Until all that's left is feeling and emotion and their bodies slotted together and moving in tandem.

Yuuri mouths at Victor's pulse as the omega comes, slowing down the bouncing of his hips for a minute before he starts to undulate them, grinding on Yuuri's dick and asking oh so prettily for the alpha's knot with his every movement. When Yuuri comes, knot sunk deep into Victor as the omega moans and twitches at the stretch, it's with his lips on Victor's chest, over Victor's heart, feeling the beat against his lips and listening it match his own heartbeat.

They lie back down slowly, careful to not jostle the other, and Yuuri purrs softly as Victor sinks his face into his neck, one hand resting open on Yuuri's pectoral. Over Yuuri's heart.

Victor dozes off like that, sated and claimed and sleepy as his second wave subsides, and Yuuri kisses his head and waits until the knot pops and his dick slips out, safe from accidentally hurting Victor.

Then, he follows.

 

 

The waves break and ebb as the days pass until they become shorter and further away from each other, and Yuuri feels thankful for his natural stamina more than once. Victor is needy, enjoying the heat sex just for the feel of it, pheromones and scents mingling in the air like the most intoxicating perfume, and Yuuri himself enjoys immensely fucking the man into a begging, wet-faced mess.

They spend most of the third wave with Yuuri lying on his back, letting Victor take as much as he wants after waking the alpha up with a hot mouth and an even hotter hole, and there's something extremely satisfying in seeing the omega work for Yuuri's knot like he's starving for it. Even afterward, Victor squirms, hips grinding against the knot tying them together until they're both panting and too sensitive to continue.

Yuuri loses count of the waves at some point, but it's either the fourth or seventh one that he spends rocking into Victor while the omega sleeps the wave away. He doesn't wake, not even when Yuuri knots him deep after losing track of how many times he made the omega come, following instinct more than fact at the time of letting himself go and locking them together. Yuuri falls asleep still inside Victor, lulled by his scent and how peaceful the man looks in his sleep, and wakes up to a flustered, horny omega who insists on being knotted again even though his eyes look as clear as the sky.

And then, finally, the last days of heat come. Yuuri happily spends them pampering Victor and letting the man pamper him, heat daze weak enough for Victor to be happy with just having Yuuri's fingers inside him as he rocks into Yuuri. They enjoy that round thoroughly, back to chest and lying on their sides as Victor sinks his face in Yuuri's hair and Yuuri moans around the fingers inside his mouth, his cock being worked by Victor's other hand at the same time. The change of pace is energizing enough that Yuuri knots Victor on the next round, fucking deep into him as he pins the man down and Victor sobs into the bedsheets.

By the time the last day of the heat comes, Victor barely shows any signs of heat daze anymore, his waves having simmered down to him just feeling incredibly horny. Yuuri admits out loud to enjoying it more when they're both aware of what's going on, no hormonal breeding cocktail messing with their heads, and Victor's pupils dilate when he describes it with those exact words. His smile is almost predatory as he looms over Yuuri.

"You know," Victor whispers, hands swaying a path down Yuuri's stomach, straying at his hip bones for a moment before going lower. Yuuri swallows. "Maybe we should talk about that after all."

"O-oh? Talk about what?"

" _Breeding_." Victor's voice is hot against his ear, breathless and husky, an echo of desire that makes the blood in Yuuri's body change course so fast it leaves him feeling light-headed. "About you filling me full of children," his hand swirls up Yuuri's thigh, brushing over his hipbones and resting on Yuuri's belly. "Or maybe you could carry them. You'd let me fuck you full of babies, Yuuri?"

Yuuri groans, opening his legs wider even as Victor smirks against his skin, and promptly loses what little amount of reason was left in his brain for the need to have Victor close, inside him, around him, _filling him_.

(Partly, it feels a bit like pre-rut, but he's too focused on Victor's body and their shared passion to really worry about that at the moment. Victor doesn't seem to mind Yuuri's less-than-typically-alpha traits or even inclinations if the filth he whispers into Yuuri's ear is something to go by, and the realization helps shut up some of the voices in the back of his mind, soothing his fears until he's raw and keening.)

All in all, it's a great way to finish off the heat.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The post-heat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! Finally. 'It'll only be 5k' my goddamn ass.  
> Enjoy!

The banquet hall is stifling, choking, and Yuuri stays to the corners and the walls as much as possible, careful of not getting underfoot of any adult. There are some kids his age around, Yuuri knows, but he still prefers his solitude and has been avoiding them since the banquet started. They like to make funny noises while he eats, anyway.

But even staying on the sidelines is _too close_ , air closing in on his lungs and making it hard to breathe. The mix of scents and perfumes feels too intense, scraping his brain raw, and it makes Yuuri feel dizzy. He frowns, closing his eyes tightly for a moment, and when that doesn't help he looks for an exit. There, an open door.

Yuuri marches to the door, trying to keep his pace not too fast as he flees, his mind chanting a prayer for nobody to notice him and call for him. Then he's walking past the doors, out into the open and cold, and he breathes in a sharp breath of freezing air.

The door leads to the gardens, snowy and covered in little fairy lights hovering on the edges of the paths, each of them of different colors and leaving patches of multicolored snow. As soon as he steps over the threshold of the building, the sudden drop in temperature makes him violently shudder, and he breathes out a gust of white mist before the temperature-controlling charms on his clothes kick in. The other side of the doorway stays warm, magically sheltered and keeping in the heat, and Yuuri gives it a last glance before turning around and walking through the garden's gates.

His boots crunch on the ground, awkward and uncomfortable in his feet as he walks. But he's not cold, despite feeling the chill biting at his skin uncomfortably, and he's suddenly glad his mother insisted on dressing him in tempered clothes. Yuuri might be old enough to make do with a heavy coat and a hat like any grown up, but after his recent cold had left him shaky-legged and weak just a week before they'd set off to Winter Country his mom had fussed over him and even dressed him herself. He's thankful for the embarrassing display of affection, now. Winter Country is _freezing_.

Keeping his glove-covered hands wrapped together, Yuuri begins to look for some dark and people-free corner to hide in. The air hurts, too cold as it travels down his lungs, and he coughs and rubs at his dry eyes (ugh, vision spells) even as he searches for a place to sit and curl up into a ball. He walks around, avoiding the paths where he hears or sees people talking or giggling, and keeps to the shadows as best as he can. The fairy lights are ignored, Yuuri walking off to the side of the marked snow paths to avoid being visible under the lights, and curls deeper into his dark robes when he hears people passing nearby.

The garden is big, full of well-tended bushes and flowers, and looks confusing and alien under the colored lights. Like a palette with diluted paint where the black ran over the other paints, leaving smears of shadows and shapes that loom confusing and menacing, distorted. 

It looks completely different to how it looked during the day, unreal, and Yuuri stares with curiosity even as he keeps looking for a place to hide in.

He feels better already, able to breathe again once his body got used to the cold air, and walking and sneaking around is helping him clear his head and calm him down.

He should've left the party hours ago.

His exploration in the shadows helps him spot the beast, white and long and oddly fluffed as it sniffs at the ground on the edge of the forest, and Yuuri stops. Under the moonlight, the fox seems to glow unnaturally, and as it lifts its head Yuuri makes eye contact with black, soulful eyes. His breath catches.

Beast and human stare at each other, fairy lights twinkling behind him as the moon shines over the untouched snow, and then the fox barks. Yuuri startles, watching the fox yip once before it turns away and jumps into the forest, disappearing from view. His feet move before he's aware, taking two steps forwards, and then Yuuri stops and looks back to the lighted up part of the gardens, frowning. Something rustles behind him, and when he looks he sees a furry head poking out of a bush, watching him. The fox barks again, squirming back into the shadows, and Yuuri thinks _oh_.

He follows.

The fox doesn't so much guide him as bark and yip and move like a white shadow in the corner of his eye, and Yuuri chases him as his blood thrums in excitement. He wants to pet the fox and he wants to see where it wants to take him so badly that even the clinging shadows of the dark forest and the dim moonlight barely shining on the ground isn't enough to damper his excitement. It's an _adventure_ , a magical adventure, and it's much better than staying in the stuffy banquet room full of people and weird smells. The forest only smells cold, like damp wood and pine and earth, and it's much better already for his nose, even if it's runny and so cold he can barely feel it anymore.

The fox keeps skulking deeper into the forest until the sound of the festivities dies out and the distant shine of fairy lights disappears completely. Yuuri finds himself breathing gusts of frozen air as he searches for the next hint of the fox's fluffy, white fur, ears straining for the sound of its next yip.

Instead, he's only met with silence and the empty, shadow clad forest.

Yuuri frowns, looking around again, and feels the first hints of dread sinking like lead in his stomach. He suddenly remembers stories of trickster foxes and mischievous spirits leaving humans stranded in forests, tales his mother had told him about the fickle nature of those who didn't act under human laws. And now nothing looks familiar, the ground too dark to even try to retrace his footsteps.

He messed up.

Yuuri closes his eyes, feeling tendrils of panic curling around his lungs, and hunches down into himself to press his face between his legs. He doesn't like this anymore. He doesn't like this joke.

Something touches his forehead, wet and cold and with a startlingly warm breath, and Yuuri looks up to the dark, curious eyes of the fox. It licks him in the cheek, tongue traveling up to his forehead and sweeping away the tears accumulated in his left eye. Yuuri, instinctively, makes a face. 

Then, it turns around and runs.

"Wait!" Yuuri shouts, springing up after the fox, eyes fixed on the furry flank and tail as it gracefully jumps in and out of bushes and runs around the trees. The fox disappears again, in the blink of an eye, and Yuuri looks frantically around as he gasps and pants, coming to a stop to get his bearings back. The air burns down his throat, and he coughs and gasps wetly.

Then he hears it, faint and faraway. It's a sound Yuuri hasn't been acquainted with for long, but it's seared into his memory well enough for him to automatically recognize it. Blinking, Yuuri looks around, and hesitantly starts to follow after it. If someone is skating nearby, surely they'll be able to bring him back to the banquet, right? It'll probably be one of the Royal Skaters anyways, Yuuri could even use the chance to tell them how much he enjoyed their show.

He soon notices a break in the forest line, trunks leaving way to what's undoubtedly ice, and Yuuri walks to it and, in a fit of hesitation, stays behind a tree in lieu of walking out into the open.

Instead, he peeks out into the lake.

His breath is stolen away.

On the ice, the figure, the person, dances, the ice skates in their feet making the sound that had called Yuuri there as the person twists and spins and waltzes around. It's different from the routines he'd seen with his parents and the other royals, lonesome and strikingly individualistic instead of being part of a group of skaters dancing and jumping around in synch, and it makes him stare in awe in a different way. Yuuri can see a story in every twist of the person's hands, in every turn of their body and every movement of their head, long hair following behind like a banner, breathtakingly pale. It tells a story, of both joy and loneliness, grief and determination, optimism warm against his skin like sunshine and melancholy soft and expansive like the sky at night, distant. Yuuri watches, entranced, unable to look away for a second as the person (person? Maybe a yokai. They're bewitching enough to be one) dances away, movements turning free and joyous again as something in the story changes.

Yuuri can almost see it, if not recognize it. A longing, a goal, something far away but at hand's reach at the same time. Like a fantasy of sprouting wings and flying up into the sky, away from the pressure of everyday life and society. Yuuri's breath hitches as the yokai crosses their legs and jumps up, up, and he half expects them to fly away like that, turning like the toy ballerina he'd seen in Minako-sensei's tokonoma. Instead, gravity pulls the body down, and _down_ , and the yokai crashes against the ice, body folding like a broken puppet.

Yuuri gasps, eyes wide as the person lies still on the ice, and his body almost lurches up to move before the yokai groans aloud. Frozen, he watches as the person sits up, shaking their head and making gray strands of hair fly around, slowly getting up on shaky legs. They continue skating, doing some laps as they brush off the fall, and it's not long before they're back to dancing around to a music of their own. Yuuri watches, transfixed, and the next time the person flies up in the air they twirl twice, rotations tight and fast, and then land down on one skate. It's flawless, like the last fall never happened, and Yuuri's heart skips a beat. The yokai keeps jumping, succeeding, succeeding, and Yuuri feels his heart lurch and then fly in joy at every successful jump. His lips feel stretched thin as he grins, cold sunk deep into every muscle of his face, but he ignores it in his awe. He wouldn't be able to keep a controlled and princely expression if he tried, now.

After a while, the person seems to go back to just dancing the enchanting routine, doing funny half jumps instead and concentrating on the steps and movements of their body, in the emotion, and Yuuri feels his heart jump in shared joy and pain. He watches as the yokai twirls and moves between what he slowly realizes must be different routines, some more light-hearted, some dramatic, and some so unpredictable it's obvious the yokai is just dancing for the joy of it. Yuuri watches for so long he starts to feel the spell on his eyesight wear off, squinting harder and harder to keep watching the yokai move clearly, and mourns the fact that he didn't bring his glasses with him. Yuuri is vaguely aware of what that means, for the spell to be wearing off, how much time must've passed already. He knows, but he doesn't have it in himself to care.

Instead, he observes the now blurry figure move and twirl, moving their very blurry arms over their head as they spin, and considers stealthily moving closer.

Then the last of the magic wears off, leaving the world fuzzy and only the bark in front of his gloves mostly discernible, and Yuuri frowns and takes a step forwards before he can think about it.

Something cracks under his foot.

Yuuri freezes, fuzzy eyesight catching the shadow of movement as the yokai's figure stops. He knows it means the yokai probably heard him and has now seen him, even if he can only look ahead in terror, too startled to try to squint and check for himself. And indeed, the next moment he hears the blades scraping against the ice again, and this time they're getting _closer_.

Maybe, maybe if Yuuri stays still and prays for the earth to open up and swallow him he'll get his wish and avoid his fate. He _really_ hopes the yokai won't be angry about Yuuri watching them skate. He doesn't want to be cursed in some terrible way.

The sound stops right in front of him and Yuuri closes his eyes tightly, waiting for judgement.

"Hi!" Says the yokai, sounding... preppy? "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, I'm sorry! I, uh, I got lost and. Um. I- I'll be going now, I'm sorry for disturbing your private time..."

"Wait," the yokai says, tilting their head and making their hair shine under the moonlight. Yuuri freezes. "Do you like skating?"

"Ah, uh, It's... it's a very pretty sport, yes," Yuuri mumbles, confused.

"Do you know how to skate?"

"No..."

"I'll teach you! Come here," the silver-haired creature says, sounding cheerful and excited, and Yuuri looks up from the ice to stare at the blurry person.

"Um, what?"

"Come!"

Yuuri blinks, and it's not until he feels the yokai grab his wrist that he realizes that he did indeed walk closer to the edge of the frozen lake. He frowns down at the ice as he's nudged onto the lake, ice blades forming under his feet with a burst of cold that sets off sparks. _The warming spell and the ice spell clashing_ , he realizes after a moment, but the sparks subside soon after so he assumes it's nothing to worry about.

(Still, the casualness with which the spell had been cast makes him wonder if this is the power of a supernatural entity.)

He stumbles on the ice at first, feet awkward and trying to slide from under him as he clings to the yokai's arm. The silver-haired (young?) yokai just smiles, chuckling softly and without malice as they slowly guide Yuuri into sliding his feet the right way. They point out his mistakes without hesitation, and praise every little step of what they assure Yuuri is progress.

It makes him feel more confident, slowly taking a few gliding steps on the ice, and Yuuri smiles up at the yokai before he realizes he's still clutching their arm. Self-consciousness takes hold, making him tense in embarrassment, and he starts to let go of the warm arm he's holding onto. Then his foot slips and he finds himself yelping and grabbing onto the nearest thing possible.

This being the yokai's torso.

Somehow, they don't end up tumbling down and sore, and Yuuri holds onto the creature's soft and warm clothes as he tries to get his breathing and heartbeat back under control, face buried against the yokai's side.

When he finally feels calm enough to move, Yuuri pulls away to clutch the silver-haired yokai's arm and looks down in embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry," Yuuri mumbles, avoiding looking anywhere else but the ice.

"It's not a problem. Nothing bad happened, right?"

"R-right."

The yokai quickly goes back to mentoring him through the steps, and slowly Yuuri starts to feel more comfortable moving. Tiny strokes against the ice turn into longer ones, body finding a clumsy rhythm within the ice, and the yokai happily gushes all the while.

"You're good! You're quick with your feet and have a great balance," the yokai says, smiling, voice nothing but genuinely excited and sincere.

Yuuri looks down, torn between embarrassment and feeling incredibly flattered, but then the yokai is pulling him by the hand to do something else, and Yuuri lets himself be led as he tries to keep up with the creature's pace. They have longer legs than Yuuri, covered with the traditional garbs of the Old Empire (which seem to be the newest fashion among many of the Empire's ex-countries, to Yuuri's unending incomprehension), and is almost a head taller than him. Yuuri is a small child, he knows that, but it still makes him want to frown at the height difference. And then Yuuri wonders if all human-looking yokai are the same height-wise, or if Yuuri somehow stumbled upon the shortest yokai of the entire continent.

Or maybe Yuuri found a young yokai...?

"You're a natural. Do you dance?" The yokai asks, curious, and Yuuri quickly peeks at their blue, blurry eyes before looking down, feeling his face and ears try to burn in embarrassment despite being already flushed by the cold.

"I-Ilike to dance, yes... You're very beautiful too, though! O-on the ice, I mean!" He quickly adds. "That was the most amazing skating routine I've ever seen."

Yuuri looks up at the soft sound that comes out of the silver-haired --teen?-- yokai, and squints when all he sees is a blurry face, details hard to discern.

"Is something wrong?" The yokai asks, casual cheer in their voice sounding almost forced, and Yuuri snaps his head back when he notices blue eyes looking back at him.

"N-no! Sorry."

The yokai hums and turns around, skating backwards with ease.

Yuuri watches as the silver-haired creature casually skates around him, circling him twice, before turning on their blade and doing a little spin. The yokai skates away, having apparently forgotten about Yuuri for now, and he watches in awe and squints as the person drifts further away, annoyed.

He really wishes he'd taken his glasses with him now. Staring from afar had been something, but now that the yokai is so close and letting Yuuri watch he wishes he could see better the detail of their movements.

Yuuri skates a bit closer, narrowing his eyes until they're almost closed in an attempt to see the exact way the yokai's skates move, and almost jumps when the person stops moving.

"Am I boring you?" Their voice is casual, slightly preppy, but Yuuri's heartbeat still picks up in a panic.

"N-no! I just... Can you teach me how to do that? The- the spins... they look familiar."

"Sure!" The yokai says, voice excited. "I can be your coach for tonight!"

Yuuri smiles, wringing his hands together, and nods shyly.

The yokai shows him through the steps, babbling about feelings and swooshes and leg positions, and Yuuri follows as best as he can.

He falls.

And falls.

And falls a lot.

By the tenth time he's tried to spin, he has overbalanced and fallen on his ass so much it feels permanently wet despite the spells woven in the thread.

Yuuri feels a bit on the verge of tears.

Correction, he _is_ on the verge of crying.

"Ah, it's okay! You can do it! Please don't cry," the yokai babbles over him, offering a hand to pick him up. "I guess I'm not that good of a coach after all... Maybe I should shout more like Lady Lilia does?"

Yuuri shakes his head, sniffing down his tears.

"You're a good coach, I'm just bad."

"Well, that's good then!" The yokai says, easily, and Yuuri blinks up at him, tears drying out in bafflement. "It means you can keep practicing and getting better, right? I always fall a lot before I learn a new jump! And then my instructors yell at me for sneaking out to skate when they're not looking and getting bruised."

The yokai grins, voice confident and encouraging, and Yuuri feels himself giving a small smile in answer, nodding.

"I want to try again," Yuuri says, and the silver-haired yokai smiles and nods.

The yokai gives him one last piece of advice, moving their body in a mimic of what Yuuri should strive towards, and when Yuuri tries again and his skates slip out under him he just frowns and gets up again.

"Almost had it," he mumbles, not seeing the other's nod of encouragement, and tries it again.

This time, he doesn't fall, and comes out of the sit spin with a smile from ear to ear.

"You did it!" The yokai cheers, throwing themself at Yuuri and wrapping him in a hug, and he's too dazed by his success to feel anything but giddiness. "I knew you could do it!"

Yuuri smiles, feeling something warm and comfortably heavy settling on his chest, and he opens his mouth to ask the yokai to teach him more. Then his ears pick on a very different set of sounds, and his words die in his throat.

The silver-haired creature seems to hear them as well, freezing in Yuuri's arms before looking out to the forest. Yuuri follows their gaze, swallowing, and hunches his shoulders at the unmistakable sound of someone calling out a loud 'his highness'.

His time has run out.

"Hmm, seems like we'll have to cut this night short," the yokai says, finally pulling away from their embrace, and Yuuri feels his shoulders growing cold at the empty space they leave behind. Then, they smile down at Yuuri. "It was fun skating with you. Thank you for joining me."

"Likewise," Yuuri murmurs, looking away from very blue eyes before he realizes he probably won't see the yokai again. They're leaving tomorrow, or in two days if any freak snowstorm hits, and Yuuri doubts he'll be left on his own again after this. He won't even be able to sneak out to say goodbye.

The ache he feels in his chest at the thought is a surprise.

"Will you be able to find your way back?" The question is light, curious and sweet, and Yuuri nods with a sniffle he tries to pass off as the cold instead of his own haywire emotions. He'll just have to show himself to the guards, after all. Hard to get lost again. "Okay."

The yokai takes his hand, slowly skating towards the snow bank at the edge of the lake, and the moment Yuuri steps on the snow the ice skates break off, almost tripping him up at the sudden change of balance. The silver-haired spirit makes a soft and mildly apologetic 'oops', hand clutching Yuuri's tighter before they finally let go, and Yuuri feels that loss too.

Then the creature of moonlight and ice is skating back into the ice, and Yuuri watches them go with a snowstorm of confused emotions and feelings hitting him from all sides.

"I-I'm Yuuri!" He says on an impulse, and breathes out as the yokai turns around to look at him. Even if Yuuri can't see their expression anymore, he wants... their attention. To be remembered, even if it means playing with fire by giving his name away to a supernatural creature. "I'm Yuuri."

He thinks the yokai smiles.

"Yuu-ri," they say, tongue soft and thoughtful around the word, as if tasting it. "It's a good name."

Then the yokai opens their mouth, a bird song coming out instead of words, and Yuuri watches as a dark and extremely fluffy bird flies to perch on the creature's shoulder.

The snap of a twig makes him look away, eyes flitting back to the forest and the guards slowly coming closer and closer to the lake, voices becoming louder as they do. He thinks he imagines the soft 'goodbye' that brushes against his ears.

Yuuri looks back, mouth open to talk, to beg the yokai to stay a little longer, to take him with them, and is met with an empty lake and a dissipating flurry of snowflakes.

The yokai is gone.

 

 

Yuuri wakes to the feeling of something brushing against his cheek, soft and careful, and opens his eyes to Victor's steady gaze. He blinks slowly, not quite awake yet, and leans his face into Victor's gentle touch with a sigh. His mind-eye flashes with images of... something familiar, cold and blue and white, but the thought escapes through his fingers like sand.

Victor's lips soften in a small smile.

"Vitya?" Yuuri mumbles, voice rough as he tries to dredge up the last of his consciousness back from the land of sleep. "Mmm, heat...?"

His hand caresses down Victor's hips, sleepy and clumsy, and Victor's smile widens even as he pushes his hips away from Yuuri's touch.

"Nooo, it's over now," Victor whispers, eyes roaming over Yuuri's face like he's seeing some hidden treasure nobody else can see, and Yuuri closes his eyes and hums again, content. "You look so cute like this, Yuuri. My handsome sleeping beauty."

Yuuri huffs a laugh, snorting, and opens his eyes to look at Victor's open face. He feels himself soften.

"Is that so?" Yuuri smiles, grasping Victor's hand so he can cuddle with it better. Then he drops a kiss on the palm before sneaking it between the pillow and his face, wrist close enough to lazily breathe in Victor's scent. "You smell good."

"I smell like I need a bath again," Victor laughs, nuzzling his forehead against Yuuri's and sighing in contentment. "We both do, after our last tumble."

"You were the one who wanted to be covered in cum and then refused to have it cleaned off properly," Yuuri mutters, giving Victor a look, and Victor chuckles.

"I don't know how I got so lucky to convince you to marry me," Victor says, voice soft, and Yuuri looks at him, pensive.

"I could say the same, Victor."

Yuuri finds Victor's other hand and lifts it to his lips, kissing the rings on his fourth finger, and smiles up at him from under his eyelashes.

Victor has mentioned before to be weak to the gesture and, indeed, the man makes a soft high-pitched noise before he's burying his face in Yuuri's chest.

Yuuri laughs, wrapping his arms around Victor as the omega does the same, and hums when the man presses his free hand against Yuuri's nape, lazily scenting him with his wrist. Yuuri returns the favor with a kiss to the man's head, and Victor purrs as they let themselves drown in their mixed scents for a while.

"Victor?" Yuuri eventually whispers, feeling the huff of breath against his collarbone and the sleepy and throaty 'hmm?' vibrate against his skin. "Do you, um..."

Victor pulls away, looking up at Yuuri, and the hand caressing Victor's hair tenses. But the man doesn't fully pull away, seemingly content in their shared space, and his shoulders relax as he goes back to petting Victor's head.

"Do I what, Yuuri?"

Victor's voice is calm and soft, fond, and it makes Yuuri want to hum and nuzzle his face close. Under the moonlight coming through the open curtains, Victor looks like he's glowing.

"Do you..." Yuuri swallows, looking away. "It's okay if you didn't mean it, since... well, but, um, were you... were you serious about...?"

He feels his face growing redder and redder as the silence grows, words stuck in his throat along with his breath. Then Victor makes a soft " _oh_ ", and Yuuri breathes out.

"I... wasn't, really. Not yet, at least," Victor finally murmurs, fingers pressing softly against Yuuri's collarbone. "Do you...?"

"Not yet," Yuuri reassures him quickly, burying his face in the pillow and Victor's hand as best as he can. "Sorry, I just-"

"It's okay," Victor says, soft and sounding almost amused. "Someday."

"Someday, only if you want," Yuuri nods, and Victor makes a soft sound and buries his face in Yuuri's neck.

Yuuri hums, closing his eyes as the omega noses and pecks at where neck and shoulder meet, and smiles.

He feels content, safe and warm.

He feels happy, chest rumbling softly, and Victor purrs back like he feels the same.

They separate again once the sheets grow too hot between them, only going far enough to keep looking at each other's faces, legs tangles together despite feeling slightly sweaty.

"Shower?" Yuuri asks, and Victor makes grumbling noise.

"Tomorrow."

Yuuri chuckles, seeing his husband do his best impression of a lazy child, and fondly watches him struggle between curling himself tighter in the blankets and airing them out.

"We'll have to ask the Master Sorcerer to reapply the temperature spells on the blankets," Victor sighs, shivering as he lifts the blanket to let the suffocating heat escape. Freezing air comes in in answer, brushing against sweaty skin, and Yuuri shivers too.

"Who was your Master Sorcerer again? I don't think I've met him," Yuuri says, patting the outside of the blanket thoughtfully as he looks at Victor, sweaty and sporting impressive bed head and frowning at the blanket like it's personally betrayed him.

"He's been abroad on a, ah, ' _research project on the ancient properties of fire_ ' these past several months, yes. He's currently in Hills Land," Victor smiles, sounding amused. "You've met him, and I'm sure he hopes you remember him, too."

"Huh? I don't..."

"He's ' _researching_ ' with the young Lord of the House of Schwyz. Something about sword grips and how it affects fire spells. Ring any bells?"

"Wait-- Chris?!"

Victor laughs and nods.

"He's been the Master Sorcerer of the castle practically since I became Tsar, to be honest. The one my father appointed was too old by then and not up to standards anymore," Victor smiles. "Chris usually travels a lot, though, which is why his apprentices get all the menial labor around here." A sigh, "Magic weaving is a bit above their expertise, though. I'll have to call him back soon."

Yuuri watches him as Victor talks, taking in the way he hums and taps his finger against his lip, and he smiles at the cuteness of his distracted expression.

"I see," Yuuri hums. His eyes catch once again on the moonbeams glinting off of Victor's hair and his hand moves without his permission, fingertips caressing the strands of shorter hair.

"Yuuri?" Victor asks, coming out of his distraction at Yuuri's touch and going still.

"Your hair looks like moonlight," Yuuri says softly, eyes fixed on the way his hair seems to shine even when the moonlight is being intercepted by his hand. Like the light is coming from inside him. "It's beautiful."

Yuuri looks down at Victor's sigh, deep and full of feeling, and when the man smiles at him the skin around his eyes crinkle.

"Like my skating?" Victor asks, and Yuuri lets out an amused huff.

"Yes. Like your skating, or your sword fighting, or your magic," Yuuri whispers, emboldened by the night, by the moonlight, by the shadows of a dream dancing at the corner of his eyes and the bubbling hot springs living in his chest. Their surroundings feel almost surreal, like a dream, and it makes Yuuri feel safe, comfortable to let his mouth open and his heart talk. "Beautiful like everything you do and everything you are. You're beautiful."

Victor's eyes widen and Yuuri watches with no small amount of gleeful surprise as his husband's pale face reddens, blush going up all the way up to his ears and down his neck and chest, faintly visible under the moonlight.

Then Victor is jumping back into his arms, burying his face in Yuuri's neck as he whines a long 'yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuri', and Yuuri chuckles and hugs him back.

"You keep surprising me," Victor finally sighs, once their limbs are tangled together again, his face pressing insistently against Yuuri's collarbone. Yuuri smiles, feeling his cheeks heat up in happiness, and then his smiles widens playfully.

"Is that a bad thing?" He teases, trying not to snort when Victor pulls away to give him a hard, long look, face serious.

"No."

It's Victor who pulls him towards his chest this time and Yuuri goes with a chuckle, nosing at Victor's neck and sighing in contentment. Victor shivers, then starts to purr, and Yuuri happily purrs back, cuddling close to the omega.

"We'll be sweating again soon if we stay like this," Yuuri murmurs, and Victor's disgruntled mumble travels up his lips from where they're pressed against the omega's throat. Yuuri chuckles. "We could turn over the blanket? The surface is cooler."

Victor hums, pensive, and then insists they do it without untangling their limbs. It ends up being way harder than it should as a result, half the blanket needing to be kicked into place, and they end up shrieking and cuddling together as the coolness of the blanket's flipped side makes them shiver.

"W-we could c-close the window too," Yuuri says, jaw clacking as he shivers and sinks his face deeper into Victor's neck.

"N-no, it n-needs to be open u-until sunrise," Victor shivers back, arms wrapping around Yuuri with the determination of a heat-seeking octopus, and Yuuri laughs and trembles. "F-for good luck."

The blanket warms up eventually, shivers calming down after they start rubbing their hands against each other's sides and doing the equivalent of a game of footsie with their entire legs. Once warm and comfortable, they settle down again, dozing off in their little bubble and in the post-heat high of happiness and intimacy.

"Victor?" Yuuri slurs, half-asleep and breathing in Victor's scent, something tugging at the back of his mind.

"Hmm hm?" The omega slurs back, sounding equally tired.

"Hmm... Vitya, Victor... Will you join me in my next rut?"

Victor squeezes him tighter, a hand resting on Yuuri's hair, and nods his head with a soft sound.

Yuuri smiles.

"Good..."

Sleep comes sweetly.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is dedicated to my mom.  
> Sorry for the kinky porn, mom, I'll always love you. Rest in peace.


End file.
